


Spirited Heir

by Anshishoku



Category: Nurarihyon no Mago | Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Nura Rihan lives, Angst, Bad Humor, Child Abuse, Claustrophobia, Dark Night-Nura Rikuo, Gen, Ghosts, Grooming, Guilt, Kidnapping, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Multiple Personalities, Mystery, No Romance, No Sexual Content Whatsoever, Not Beta Read, Nura Rihan is Alive, Pain, Panic Attacks, Possession, Some comfort, Spirits, Split Personalities, The rating is due to the trauma, Trigger Warnings, Triggers, Villain Raising Hero, kind of...it's non sexual..., mostly happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anshishoku/pseuds/Anshishoku
Summary: After the Second Heir lost his son, the Nura clan fell into ruin. Now, (Taking place after the events of chapter 138/End of Anime) Mysterious Yokai are at work, and there have been reports of another nurarihyon yokai messing around with humans and yokai alike. Rihan and the Nura clan must unravel the plans of their foes while at the same time, learn more about the disappearance of Rikuo Nura.
Relationships: Nura Rikuo & Nura Clan, Nura Rikuo & Oikawa Tsurara
Comments: 18
Kudos: 38





	1. Prologue

The breeze from outside was gentle, perfect for a stroll in the garden. Rihan was enjoying the calm weather as he watched his son, Rikuo, playing just ahead of him. The rest of the clan was inside, about their own business.

Days like these needed to be cherished, especially among this clan. 

“Oh, what’s that over there? Haha,” Rikuo suddenly ran over to whatever he saw.

“Don’t stray too far, Rikuo.” Rihan called after his son. 

He continued his leisurely walking, every now and then glancing at Rikuo. The boy appeared to be picking some flowers. At this, Rihan thought about the flowers they were surrounded by. _Yamabuki Roses_. 

Oh, how walking here made him feel such nostalgia. He had once been all too angry and despaired to dare glance in their direction, but his sorrow had healed with time. He could now stroll by them, and remember how happy these flowers, and the woman they reminded him of, made him.

Like his son, he strolled closer and plucked a few, smelling them and reminiscing the past. He continued walking in the direction Rikuo had run off, pondering the current workings of the clan. 

Rihan took a glance at Rikuo, but realized he had lost the boy. He hasented his pace, turning the corner of the house and calling for Rikuo. No answer came.

“Rikuo? Can you hear me?” Rihan grew worried now. How could he have been dumb enough to lose sight of a five year old?! Children could disappear in the blink of an eye and it’s been longer than that. Rihan wondered if he should head back to the house and see if Rikuo returned there, or find out if anyone had seen him.

As it happens, some of the yokai from the house heard him calling for Rikuo, as Kubinashi and Tsurara came over (Kubinashi; concerned as Rihan’s right hand, and Tsurara; concerned as Rikuo’s main attendant and caretaker).

“Master Rihan? Is something the matter? Where’s Young Master Rikuo?” Kubinashi asked.

“I don’t know. One minute we’re walking by the flowers, and next thing I know he’s gone and won’t answer me.”

“Are we sure this isn’t one of his pranks?” Tsurara questioned skeptically. 

“I don’t think so, he hasn’t disappeared like this for a prank before. Rikuo? Where are you?” Rihan said.

“Young Master Rikuo! If this is a prank, then maybe we could cancel this one? Young Master Rikuo!” Kubinashi tried.

The three of them began worriedly calling for Rikuo, wandering the area and searching for the lost boy.

_“AAAHHHH!”_ A child’s voice suddenly screamed.

Immediately, the three yokai ran towards the scream, scared of what they might find. Had Rikuo gotten hurt? Maybe he got scared by something?The sound had come from the flower bushes a little ways away, and rusting could be heard as they got closer. 

“Rikuo!” Rihan called, hoping for an answer so he’d know Rikuo was okay.

What they found was Rikuo suddenly launched into the air, tied by something as whatever Rikuo found stepped forward.

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Rihan-chan.” A yokai grinned as if they were completely safe. “My name is Kosoku.” A feminine face with white eyes and black sclera could be seen. She had white hair tied back in a high ponytail, and upon her face, from her left cheek right through her eye to her forehead, were black lines that rippled everytime she blinked.

“Unhand my son.” Rihan replied as he drew his sword. Kubinashi and Tsurara got their own weapons ready, standing to the side so as to not get in Rihan’s way.

“Aww, you don’t wanna play with me? Too bad. Guess you lose.” Kosoku stepped further out of the flower bushes, Rikuo still tied in the air traveling behind her. She wore a white kimono, with geta on her feet. Around her arms were bloody red ropes, some of which were what Rikuo was tied by. 

“Dad…” Rikuo sniffled, tears streaming down his face. “Tsura-Urgh!” His last word was cut off as Kosoku tightened the ropes around him.

“Rikuo! Dammit, what do you want?” Rihan questioned, scared for his son.

“Oh, I already have everything I need. I just wanted to taunt you a little.” She grinned, before she raised her left hand and ropes shot towards them all.

You’d think yokai of Rihan, Kubinashi, and Tsurara’s caliber would be able to avoid getting tied up so easily from such a straightforward attack. But for whatever reason, as the ropes came at them, they suddenly felt dazed, unable to stand or barely blink. The ropes tied them up and disposed of their weapons as if they were the weakest of yokai.

“Ahh, now that is a sight to see. The great Supreme Commander Rihan-chan, down on his knees.” The yokai released an obnoxious laugh. “Before I go, how about I tell you why I’m here? You may be out of it now, but later you’ll recall this better than anything else, and I’d love to see the despair in your eyes.”

The three restrained yokai barley blinked at her words. Slowly, they were becoming coherent, but the ropes had them physically paralyzed.

Kosoku continued, not at all concerned for her well being. “I was sent here by a man named Encho. Have you heard of him?” Rihan couldn’t answer even if he wanted to. While his mind was returning faster and faster, his body was numb. He did his best to glare at her, but she didn’t so much as flinch. “He’s basically our leader. Perhaps you’ve heard of us, the Hyaku Monogatari clan?” 

She grinned, watching as his eyes shot open, fury evident in them. Still, Rihan could not move.

“Ah, that’s the look. How delightful~! Now, as payment for your crimes, I’ll be returning with my prize. Good day to you, Rihan-chan.” She winked, and waltzed back through the flowers, a sobbing Rikuo still tied up and following her.

“DAD! DADDY! TSURARA! SOMEBODY HELP!” Rikuo cried.

“Shut up, brat.” Kosoku sent another rope to cover Rikuo’s mouth. By the time anyone from the house had run over and found Rihan, Kubinashi and Tsurara in that state, Kosoku and Rikuo were nowhere to be found.

The clan searched for days, for weeks, months even. Not a shred of evidence told them where Rikuo was or could be. 

The main house held what they referred to as a ‘mourning’. Calling it a funeral was too hard and sounded as though they had given in and decided Rikuo was dead.

Kosoku had been right. Rihan grew more and more despaired as time went on. The Nura clan, which had still been doing quite well despite being past his glory days, decayed rapidly. 

Truly, the second heir of the nura clan must be cursed. That’s what whispering yokai said. To lose his first wife to ‘mysterious circumstances’ and then his first born to an old enemy of his. How cursed indeed. And once again, Nura Rihan couldn’t look at the Yamabuki roses, as they only caused pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so this is just a prologue and I'm sorry if you were hoping for more. The story isn't finished, as i still have to go over major plot points, but I wanted to see first if anyone would even be interested in this concept? I hope so, I've had lots of fun so far writing it. Thank you for visiting! ;)


	2. Chapter 2

“Supreme Commander, we have more reports of suspicious yokai in town.” Karasu Tengu stated. 

Rihan silently took a drag of his pipe. Each and everyday, since a few months ago, there were more and more reports of activity in Edo, the majority of which had nothing to do with the Nura clan’s members starting anything or even being involved. 

“I see. And I assume we still have no idea who the ayakashi are or who they work for?” Rihan replied.

“That is correct, Supreme Commander. But I believe these incidents are getting worse, as more and more humans are noticing. It isn’t just rumors or unaffiliated yokai reporting to us any more.”

“So they’re attacking humans now? We can’t let this go on any longer. We may be ayakashi, but attacking humans in our charge is unforgivable.” Rihan sat up straighter, his expression hardening. “What types of fear are being reported?”

“That is part of the problem,” Karasu Tengu suddenly looked apprehensive. “We have begun getting some reports, though very little, of a single type, the main cause of this chaos. It is Displacement Fear.” Karasu Tengu reported upfront.

Many of the yokai in the room were suddenly concerned, bickering and talking over each other.

“Displacement, huh…” Rihan murmured. Of the types of [ Yokai Fear ](https://nurarihyonnomago.fandom.com/wiki/Osore), Displacement was rare, and it also happened to be the type of fear nurarihyon’s were known for. The first thing in Rihan’s mind was _Does this mean there’s another nurarihyon in town?_

“Supreme Commander,” One of the yokai generals called. Rihan lifted his head to see whom it was. Hitotsume was the questioner. “Are we absolutely sure this isn’t a miss-report about something yourself or Nurarihyon has done?” It wasn’t an invalid question.

Karasu Tengu was the one who answered. “I am absolutely sure, Hitotsume. I gathered these reports from my children and others informing us about these events, and went through them myself. The fear type found was displacement, but strangely enough, though the information is limited, I have found a common factor in all of those of the described displacement fear, how exactly it was used.”

The room quieted down finally, everyone now intently listening to what Karasu Tengu found.

“Go ahead, Karasu Tengu, tell us what you found.” Rihan said.

“While it is uncanny that the events described the ability of nurarihyon, illusions and the ability to disappear and reappear, I have finally put together why we have so few reports but so many sightings. It would seem that, whomever is the Displacement User, they are able to ‘possess’ other yokai. This isn’t like when yokai possess humans or the common ways of possession, but...if I may, Commander Rihan, quite similar to your ability to let your human side be possessed.”

At this, though the room became loud, Rihan grew very quiet. 

“Silence! Karasu Tengu, what do you mean? What are they doing and how does this pertain to the lack of information?”

“The Displacement User appears to be able to possess, or rather, ‘infect’ others with their fear and control them in mild forms, such as being unable to speak just before giving crucial details, sudden loss of one or multiple senses, or even loss of memory. It is unknown if this is like a disease and yokai can pass it to one another. What concerns me the most, as of this moment, is whether this means the Displacement User is aware of what’s happening in our clan, and therefore, we may have several unwilling spies.”

That was a big deal. Not just a hindrance on their information flow, but possible leakage of clan secrets and plans? Awful. Such an evolved use of displacement, how frustrating. The annoying ability of a nurarihyon had always been handy to Rihan, but now he felt what others did. 

“What can be done, Karasu Tengu?” He asked.

“I’ll double up on our security, and investigate a way to tell the infected from the not, but I’m not sure what can be done until then. Perhaps, as a nurarihyon yourself, you could take a look around. You may be able to see something others wouldn’t.”

“Well, _I_ could always take a look arou-” 

“You are in retirement, Nurarihyon! You shouldn’t be doing anything actively.” Karasu Tengu yelled at the previous commander. 

“You’re no fun...” He pouted in disappointment.

“I’ll take a look around today. Anything else? Any reports on Abe no Seimei?” Rihan inquired.

“Not at the moment. It would seem that Seimei and his followers are lying low for the time being.” Karasu Tengu got quiet suddenly, speaking lower to just Rihan. “There is also...no new information on the Hyaku Monogatari clan.” 

Rihan shifted uncomfortably. “Meeting adjourned.” He said, and made his way to the exit. 

_ The Hyaku Monogatari clan... _

It had been eight years since Rikuo’s kidnapping. Rihan could only hope, though this was a very horrible thought, that Rikuo was actually...dead. At least then he wouldn’t be a tool for the Hyaku Monogatari clan, at least then he wasn’t being tortured for being Rihan’s son.

To make things more painful, it was the year his son would be...would’ve been...thirteen. The coming of age for a yokai, even if he was in fact ¾ human. Would he have looked like Wakana? Maybe he would’ve come into his yokai genes and taken an appearance like Rihan’s and Nurarihyon’s? 

But he would never know these things. Rihan would never know these things about his own child as he had failed to keep him safe. Rihan had failed Rikuo in the simplest thing he, as a parent, should have been able to do.

_ Are you gone, Rikuo? Or have you survived till now? _

He may never know.

Rihan had decided later that day to begin his exploration of Ukiyoe town, for once traveling in his human form so as to not draw attention. The city had surely changed in the time he ruled Edo. No longer was it the appearance of a village, as westernization had taken over.

“No! It’s true! I saw him! The Lord of Darkness!” An excited human boasted nearby. As Rihan looked over, he noticed that they appeared to be young teenagers, probably middle school age. The tallest one was speaking animatedly to the others about a ‘Yokai Lord of Darkness’ he had seen. Rihan was intrigued to say the least. He activated his Meikyō Shisui and followed them a little.

“Whatever you say, Kiyotsugu.” One of them replied back.

“No! I honestly saw him!” Kiyotsugu defended. “He was _so cool!_ One moment there was nothing and the next he appeared out of nowhere! It looked like shadows were literally bleeding off of him!” 

For a human, that wasn’t a bad description of what Rihan’s own fear looked like. Although, the important thing was that this pretty much confirmed for Rihan that he had to be dealing with another nurarihyon yokai, or perhaps this human had just seen Rihan himself. He hoped it was the former.

“Really? That sounds _so_ fake.” One of the girls said to another.

However, there was a third girl in the group who appeared to be listening intently. “Really Kiyotsugu? What uh...what did he look like?” She asked.

“Well, at least someone believes me! Ienaga, how very smart of you! If i had to describe him, hmm...well, I’d say he had long hair that stood straight out the back of his head! It was two toned as well, with black underneath and white on top. He wore a traditional black kimono with a red hoari, and had a sword in his hand. That was about all I could see before he disappeared again. Have you seen him too, Ienaga?” 

Ienaga seemed hesitant, but nodded. Kiyotsugu cheered as the others were surprised.

But this was very good information for Rihan. As the humans diverged into other topics, he stopped following them and went on with his patrol. 

The nurarihyon the human described sounded a lot like his father from his earlier years. From when Yohime was still alive. Could this nurarihyon be the cause of the attacks, the Displacement User?

Rihan continued strolling the human city, hoping to catch more details of yokai from human rumors. He wasn’t so lucky. Night came fast, the air growing colder and less humans on the streets.

Seeing as it had gotten pretty late, Rihan had decided to call it quits and return home, maybe for some good sake with everybody, when finally something happened.

Just as Rihan was going to turn around and head back, he sensed a nearing yokai. Rihan activated his fear and waited to see whatever yokai had begun tailing him.

What he didn’t expect was to see the very dregs of fear coming off a yokai as they disappeared, not unlike how Rihan himself had just done.

_ Is it the nurarihyon? _

Truly, that’d be some insane luck if he had been followed by the very yokai he was looking for. Although, maybe it wasn’t luck, as this supposed nurarihyon was possibly an enemy and there's no doubt that an enemy would take the chance to follow him like this.

But if he was right and this was a fellow nurarihyon, how was he gonna get the yokai to reveal themself? He couldn’t very well just drop his fear and call them out, that’d be suicide. 

Before Rihan could make a choice, the yokai energy he had sensed began getting farther and farther away, as if they had given up and walked away. Rihan _had_ to follow them. Just another chance to get someone to join his Hyakki Yakou, right?

Well, it could've been, had he not lost them. Somewhere between them disappearing and Rihan losing track of their yokai aura, they got away.

“Damn, and here I was hoping we could share a drink~” Rihan pouted. Might as well return home now.

And he did, talking to the remaining generals about what he found. Karasu Tengu was adamant that following the yokai was completely foolish and chewed him out for what seemed like half the night.

As Rihan took a seat on the widest branch of the sakura tree, he noted that the cherry blossoms were stirring oddly. Many were flying off into the distance, as if attracted by a magnet. 

_I’ll find you, mysterious nurarihyon…_

* * *

**He** had been tasked to lure, kill, and tag any members of the Nura clan **he** found. Imagine **his** surprise when **he** saw Nura Rihan out and about as if he wasn’t their main target. But that didn’t matter. Their clan already had great plans for Nura Rihan, that’s what **he** had been told, but **he’d** never been briefed on what to do should **he** find him. Of course, **he** had been told to stay away from higher ups...but surely **he** would be praised if **he** brought back information about Nura Rihan.

_What luck...maybe if I tail him I can possess him or find out a weakness of his. He does appear to share an affinity for humans...as expected of a half-breed disgrace...thinking humans have any value, how idiotic._

_That’s a little hypocritical, wouldn’t you say?_

**** It was _that voice_ again. That annoying voice that thought it could tell **him** what to do. Thought it could tell **him** the ‘truth’, as it kept spouting uselessly. What did it know? It was just a voice!

**He** paused, and turned to the creature the voice belonged to, a being **he** had found out years ago was just a figment of **his** imagination.

“Shut up, you moron!” **He** whispered fiercely to the apparition. Even in night time like this, the ghost was there. Yes, _ghost_. That’s what the thing was, and it was little to nothing else but a hallucination. Although it was true that night was when it was at its weakest, it still gave it’s useless input.

_Don’t you think this is a bad idea? Whether or not you should be doing this, which you shouldn’t, you have no chance against the Supreme Commander of the Nura clan._

The voice almost sounded proud, like it was _glad_ **he** couldn’t match Nura Rihan.

“You know nothing! Just shut up, shut up!” **He** grew furious. The ghost only frowned.

_ Keep talking like that and he’ll notice. He isn’t stupid, after all. _

**** “Then be quiet! I’m not speaking to you anymore!” **He** looked around, trying to find where **he** had lost Nura Rihan. The halfling was ahead a number of paces, but still hadn’t noticed **him**. What a fool!

_ I thought I was just a hallucination, why respond if I am one? _

**** The ghost drifted near **him** , eyes closed and head tilted to the sky. Suddenly, it looked ahead of them, at Nura Rihan, and when **he** turned as well, the halfling disappeared. Nura Rihan had activated his fear.

_ Dammit! _

_ I guess someone isn’t as skilled at hiding his presence as he thought. We should go. _

“Don’t tell me what to do!” **He** activated his fear, the same type of fear Nura Rihan had just used, and made the decision to go back to **his** real reason for being out tonight.

_Oh really? And here I thought you were one of the most skilled of the clan, starting to see the truth? _

**** The stupid ghost always thought it was better than **him**. 

“You just wait. I’m gonna finish my job and then I’ll make sure you can’t speak anymore.” **He** gritted **his** teeth as **he** neared **his** destination.

_ So you always say… _

**** As **he** found **himself** at the inn, **he** entered and found who **he** was looking for.

“Hakase,” **He** greeted her.

She looked up at him from her chair. “Ah! Sakura-chan, hello~!” Kosoku cooed. She stood and cupped **his** face, pulling **his** cheeks like **he** was a child.

“Enough! Stop it! And stop calling me that!” **He** stepped back after fighting off her hands.

“Boo~, Sakura-chan is no fun today~” She pouted. 

_ No fun at all, ~Sakura-chan~ _

“ _Anyways,_ ” **He** interjected, ignoring the ghost. _“_ I’m here to get my assignment for the night. Also, Nura Rihan was out earlier.” **He** mentioned. The clan had needed to keep Nura Rihan’s activity on their radar constantly.

“Ooooo~ Rihan-chan, huh? You didn’t follow him, did you?” Her smile turned sour, as she awaited his insubordination, like she expected so little of him.

“No, I most definitely didn't. He disappeared before I could anyways. But, he’s definitely investigating the reports going on.”

“Hmm, I’ll inform Encho-sama. Now, be a good boy and go take care of your next targets. And don’t forget to possess them, we can’t be giving too much information. Bye bye, Sakura-chan.” With that, Kosoku walked out of the inn, probably returning home now that she had gotten **his** report.

“Wait!” **He** walked out to Kosoku, and she paused, waiting for **him** to speak. “The...ghost...is back…” **He** said, already regretting telling her.

“Sakura-chan, ignore it as you’ve been told to. It’s nothing, and the more attention you grant it, the more it’ll distract you. I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you continue to feed the fire, yes?” Her eyes glinted in the moonlight, her yokai aura spiking in anger, even though the yokai herself was still grinning.

“Of course, Hakase…”

' _Of course, Kosoku.’ ‘Whatever you say, Kosoku.’ We shouldn’t have to deal with this clan's dirty work. It’s not right. _

“Don’t say her name! You just butt out, this is my clan and there's no _‘we_ ’, you’re a figment of my imagination and you need to dissipate! Forever!” **He** shouted at the ghost. Luckly, there wasn’t anyone nearby to hear **him**.

_ If you truly wanted me to go, why am I still here? _

**** **He** was pointedly ignoring the ghost now. **He** had a job to do.

* * *

Greetings readers! If you don't care to know about the special coloring of texts from the above and to-be-out chapters, you can keep going and ignore this.

No worries, it's nothing big I just wanted to let everyone know what colors belong to which characters (there's only 5) but I'm sure as you read you'd pick it up anyways, so thank you for indulging me ;)

Rihan - _Thoughts_

(Spoiler-ish) ~~Night Rikuo~~ \- _Thoughts_

(Spoiler-ish) ~~Day Rikuo~~ \- _Thoughts_

Tsurara - _Thoughts_

Kosoku - _Thoughts_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Em...hello...
> 
> Sorry, I know this took a long time to come out and tbh I'm still writing the last chapter, but I keep thinking about it so here we are. Idk. I think I'll stick to one chapter a week, possibly mondays, but who's to say. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and if you were just waiting for this to finally update, first: thank you I don't deserve that, and second: I hope this chapter has sparked your interest further.
> 
> I forgot to mention: We're just gonna pretend that the Kanji that spell Rikuo's name are 陸桜 which mean '"陸" is land "桜" is cherry blossoms' Which i got from https://japanese-names.info/first_name/rikuo/ . Thanks
> 
> Any questions? Comment them below, I would love to answer. Have a nice day ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning for the middle section of the chapter, I don't want to spoil it but basically a character kinda gets assaulted and it may be difficult to read, please be safe! For anyone that needs to skip, I'll leave a short note, at the end of the chapter, of what happened.

Rihan was so damn _tired_ today. Just about every yokai he saw had something to report to him, some event that had occured and by now he had heard a portion of the stories way more than enough times! It was worrying that the attacks had grown in number so rapidly, almost overnight even, but without any real details, he couldn’t figure out what any of it meant.

“That’s it!” He suddenly shouted. Pushing his way through the groups of yokai, from smaller to those he had lived most of his life with, he exited the main house, walking near the sakura tree. “Oh hell, I can finally breathe!” He shouted, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

“Master Rihan!” A voice called.

“Heaven forbid I escape...whoever you are please just leave me alo-” As Rihan turned to whomever had called him, he paused when he saw it was just Tsurara. “Oh, Tsurara...sorry about that, I uh…” He trailed off, not sure what to say.

“No worries, I completely understand Master.” She said with a smile. “I was just about to head into town for some errands though, so I wanted to know if there was anything you needed.” 

_ If only I could escape and just go with her… _

“How about you just do me a favor and bring back some good sake. That’ll do just fine.”

She smiled again, her eyes closed and face pulled innocently. “Easily done! I’ll be off then, Master.” She bowed and left.

“Ayyah, I wish I had her energy…” Rihan pouted.

“Rihan-sama! I just remembered something else I saw!” Yet another yokai said.

_ Damn it all! _

* * *

_ Ahh, poor Rihan-sama, nobody will give him any space today… _

Tsurara was currently running her errands, such as visiting the ayakashi she was charged to look after, a little bit of shopping, and overall watching the town for anything out of the ordinary.

She hadn’t yet found any sake that seemed acceptable to bring home yet, but the day was young and she had time. 

After the disappearance of the Young Master so many years ago, her role in the Nura clan had been...it sounded harsh to say ‘demoted’. After all, she didn’t exactly have a little master to care for and attend to, so she returned to being just like all the other yokai of the clan, besides having a better relationship with the main family.

She had been put to work in the household jobs; cooking, cleaning, laundry. But that was okay! She was happy to be of use to the clan, in any way possible. 

Secretly, Tsurara wished she could be more to the clan. She imagined...in some distant world where her Young Master had still been here, and she was his right hand, like Kubinashi to the Second Heir. Where her Master led the clan and she could fight by his side. 

She tried not to dwell on something that would never happen. Could never happen.

Tsurara was in between her jobs, walking from one place to the next, when she felt someone watching her. She was using the human pathways so she looked human right now, but of course she still stood out, with the appearance of dyed blue hair. She got worried, what if it wasn’t some human (who she could easily take care of) and was actually a yokai?

Tsurara also remembered that there were rumors of a Displacement User that could possess other yokai, what if it was him?! She wouldn’t be of any use to the clan if she came back brain-washed and duties unfinished! 

“Who’s there!” She shouted to the alley around her. She had ducked in, thinking maybe the feeling would go away but instead it got worse.

In the next few seconds, two things happened.

Just as Tsurara was about to say she was going crazy, a black, inky-looking substance erupted in the alley. It coated the opening in front and behind her and as she took a step back to run the other way, she collided with something at her back.

She had too slow of a reaction when an arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, and what she guessed was a head came down to her ear, on her left side.

“ _Shhhh..._ come now, we don’t wanna get the dumbass humans involved in this, do we?” a masculine voice whispered. There was mischief in his voice, and it made her shiver in fear.

“What do you want?” She got straight to the point, trying to think of some way to get out of this. The black stuff in front hadn’t gone away, but it became more translucent, and reminded her of shadows. Though, that didn’t make much sense, with the sun being directly overhead.

“ _Oooo_ , I get to choose? Hmm, decisions, decisions...I got nothing, I hadn’t thought you would _offer_ me anything.” The hand at her waist settled, but his left hand came up to her neck, and he traced his index finger along her pulse.

“What-what does that mean? If you’re cornering me like this, I must have something you want, so why play games and let’s get this over with!” Tsurara almost yelled, but when her tone started rising, his hand pressed down on her throat until she got quiet again.

“Hmm… ” He suddenly leaned back, and his hands were tense. “You shut up, I’ll do whatever I want!” He hissed...at nothing. 

_ What the hell? _

“Um...I didn’t say anything…” 

“I wasn’t talking to you. Screw off Ghost, I don’t care!” He said. 

Tsurara was all kinds of confused. Apparently, this threatening yokai...was insane? Just her luck. With him momentarily distracted, she took her chance and elbowed him in what she thought was the abdomen. The openings of the alley were still closed, but at least she had put some distance between her and her attacker.

Who, to be honest, had a _striking_ appearance. 

He looked utterly _nurarihyon_ , with two-toned long hair standing perpendicular to his body. He wore a traditional black Kimono and a blood red Haori. His head was down, staring at the ground seemingly. His shoulders began to shake, ever so slightly, as a laugh escaped him.

“You...are so _annoying._ ” he looked back up, with bloody red eyes and raised his hand at her. The shadows came at her, and instead of wrapping her up or keeping her from moving like she expected, they sunk _into_ her. In every pore, orifice, or gap in her clothing, and it was freaking _cold_.

Not like her usual cold from being a yuki-onna, though. No, this felt all kinds of wrong, unnatural, fake.

She gasped, feeling nauseous and her head started pounding in time with her pulse, like a hammer knocking on her skull. She collapsed to her knees, clutching her head.

He came closer, kneeling in front of her and dragging her head up by her chin. Upon closer inspection, his bloody red irises were surrounded by deep black sclera. Was this the wrong time for her to think, _hey, he’s kinda familiar...where have I seen him before?’_ , yes, yes it was. He had a fanatical grin on his lips as he smiled at her. 

“How stupid, did you really think that little jab would help you? Poor, weak yokai… ” His expression turned to a scowl in seconds as he reeled his head back. “Go away! I’m not doing anything you say, so just shut the hell up, nuisance!” He spoke to nothing.

Tsurara could hardly keep her eyes open with the pulsing headache and the nausea still happening. She thought it might be going down, but when the yokai had started yelling at nothing, the pain became worse, like it responded to his emotions.

“As for you, Yuki-Onna… ” he looked down at her, still holding her face roughly in his hand. “You’ll go on about your day, go back to your clan, I don’t care. But I'll be there. I’ll make sure you can’t tell your superiors anything useful, make sure you’re nothing but a hindrance. You’ll help me break down the Nura clan from the inside.” That sickening grin overtook him again.

Tears streamed from her face, freezing into little pieces of ice before they touched the ground. This was the last thing she wanted to be to her clan: _useless_. 

“You-” She grimaced, trying to speak through the pain. “You’re the nurarihyon, the Displacement User we’ve heard about...the one that possesses yokai…”

As she said this, his smile became wider. “Aww, you know who I am, how cute. Maybe I should just take you with me and keep you as a pet. Wouldn’t that be _fun_?”

Tsurara shivered. _Oh no, please…_

Before Tsurara could so much as beg for anything but that, the yokai released her face and grasped his own head. He reeled back, stumbling away. He unsheathed his sword, swinging and slashing it randomly, just narrowly missing her as she crawled away, her back hitting the wall.

“Get out! Get out get out _get out!_ Fuck off! You horrid, useless spirit, release me!” he raged. His sword made cuts into the walls of the alley and the ground as he thrashed wildly.

_What’s going on!?_ Tsurara wanted to cry. Why couldn’t this have been a normal day?

Then the pain and nausea was gone. With the pounding in her skull gone and her stomach settled, she could think now. As the pain disappeared, a warm, soothing feeling settled into her bones. It didn’t feel like when she, a yuki-onna, got too hot. It was...soothing...comforting.

Tsurara looked back at the mad yokai, who was still acting crazy, slashing everything. He couldn’t have released her, wouldn’t have...right?

_ Tsurara… _

She sat up, looking around for where someone else, someone who knew her name, was. But no one was around. Maybe she imagined it.

_ Tsura- _

There it was again, but this time it was cut off! What was this?

The wall of shadows became even more transparent, before fissuring out and disappearing. She carefully stuck her hand through where they just were, and when nothing stopped her, she got up and ran. With a last look at the yokai, who was still rampaging and shouting at nothing, she took off. 

Tsurara found herself sprinting, but she didn’t feel tired. She was scared and she felt the adrenaline in her system helping her, keeping her senses alert. By the time she was aware of her surroundings again, she was on the street where the Main House was. Some of the little yokai could be seen through the entrance, playing and drinking even in broad daylight.

“Oh, Tsurara! I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” The Second Heir waved at her. Next to him, at the base of the tree he sat in, was Kubinashi and Kejoro. “Did you get the sake?” He grinned.

As the world around her registered, Tsurara felt all the energy in her body gone, and she dropped to the ground, beginning to sob.

She hardly registered Kejoro next to her, Tsurara just turned to her and sobbed even harder as Kejoro wrapped her arms around her.

* * *

As **he** held the Yuki Onna close to him, the Ghost screeched, pissed beyond belief. 

_Get your hands off her right now! Stop it!_

**** “You shut up, I’ll do whatever I want!” **he** hissed at the spirit, the girl tensing at **his** raised voice.

“Um...I didn’t say anything…” The snow woman said.

“I wasn’t talking to you. Screw off Ghost, I don’t care!” **He** yelled at the floating being next to **him**.

The ghost was angry, enraged at the yokai. They had been following the yokai of the Nura Clan when he had suddenly thought _she looks...familiar…_

By the time that he had realised _why_ she looked familiar, muttering a _Tsurara!?_ , the yokai had found out that the ghost was interested and decided to mess with the girl.

So here they were, the yokai messing with Tsurara, and the Spirit useless to help. Then, as the ghost was yelling at and taking the attention of the yokai, Tsurara hit him in the stomach and put distance between them.

He was so glad he could cry. Until the yokai did _that_. The shadows sinking into Tsurara was something he never wanted to see and he was furious with **him**.

_ Stop it right now! You fucker, don’t you touch her! _

“Go away! I’m not doing anything you say, so just shut the hell up, nuisance!” the yokai replied.

As tears came from Tsurara and the yokai offered to make her **his** pet, the ghost decided that was the last straw. If **he** liked possessing and terrorizing people so much, let’s see how **he** feels when it’s done to **him**!

The ghost breathed in, and charged at the yokai, going right through **him** , but not coming back out. It was like someone turned the lights back on and what he saw was Tsurara in front of him, though the body he couldn’t control reeled back from her, screaming.

The yokai had lost **his** mind with rage, enough that **he** didn’t even notice the ghost leaving **him** , and coming before Tsurara. He gently placed his hand on her cheek, and tried to make the pain, the possession go away. 

_ Tsurara… _

He wanted to say he was sorry, sorry he wasn’t strong enough, sorry he couldn’t do better, but there was no way she’d hear him.

_ Tsurara, I’m so sorry... _

He felt his palm on her face get warm, which was a strange feeling, warmth...something he hadn't known in some time...

And then the shadows were gone, the ghost was glad that he had scrambled the yokai up enough for that, and left Tsurara a way out. She took one last glance back at the yokai, and it shouldn’t have hurt that she didn’t look at him, after all no one but the yokai could see him, but it did anyways.

He turned back to the still raging yokai, sighing.

_ This is gonna suck _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who skipped: Tsurara was attacked by the 'displacement user' and she did (but didn't) get possessed. There were a few references to his mysterious character, mostly that he's 'familiar' and that he's insane (because he seemingly talks to nothing). Tsurara gets away thanks to an 'unknown' reason.
> 
> Hewwo, thank you for reading, I hope you guys are having a good time reading this ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Some victim angst in the first section, torture stuff in the second and third, and the rest is probably okay...? It has some self-harm kinda thoughts but not too much, I'll still make a summary at the end for anybody that needs it.

This was disturbing news. 

When Tsurara had returned, collapsing in the street and sobbing incoherently, they knew something _bad_ had happened. Before they asked her, they tried to calm her down, obviously. This resulted in her passing out in exhaustion. The Main House was in an uproar, wondering just what the hell happened to Tsurara. She was, so to speak, the darling of the main family. She was the daughter of a clan founder, one of the persons responsible for the house being able to function, and even one of the three present at Rikuo’s abduction. Despite not having fought with any of the yokai of the clan in battle, everyone admired her strong spirit and they knew she mourned Rikuo the same as those related to him by blood. Over the years, there came to be a stale distance between them, but she hadn’t ever acted unkindly towards the main family and the head attendants. 

Now, Rihan, Kubinashi, Nurarihyon, Aotabo and Kurotabo were situated around her, where she still lay unconscious. Kejoro had just left to change the water and cloth she had been placing on Tsurara’s forehead to keep her cool.

“Does anyone know what might have happened? Did she say she was doing anything dangerous on her errands?” Rihan questioned the others.

“Not to my knowledge, Master. No, she said she would be doing the usual, picking up groceries and checking in on the shrine spirits. Giving offerings. And I doubt, with you asking for her to bring home some sake, that that was any more dangerous than the other things.” Kubinashi answered. Ao and Kuro nodded in agreement, as did Kejoro when she had come back.

They talked for a little while, trying to come up with what could have happened or about anything else, when Tsurara finally woke up. She slowly blinked her eyes open, not yet having registered that she wasn’t alone. Her hand came up and rubbed her eye a bit, before she opened her eyes all the way and looked around.

“Master! I-You shouldn’t be worrying about me I-I’m fine!” She attempted to sit up, but Kejoro pushed her right back down, giving her a stern look.

“Tsurara, everything’s fine. You’re in a safe place, and you don’t need to worry about me being here. We just wanna know what happened to you.” As Rihan said the last bit, her eyes widened, they stared off at the ceiling, as if she was thinking over something.

“I...I think...that I ran into the Displacement User…” Tsurara’s voice drifted as she spoke, getting quieter and quieter.

“You met him? Did he...were you possessed?” As he said the word ‘possess’, Tsurara shot up, wrapping her arms around herself, her eyes watering. She didn’t start crying, but she shook like she was cold or scared.

“It...it was _awful_. It felt...numb, and sickly cold, unnatural, artificial...It hurt so much…”She whispered. She tucked her head into her knees. Kejoro came to sit next to Rihan, and she gently stroked a hand up and down Tsurara’s back.

“Tsurara...do you know if he can watch us through the people he poss...infected?” Rihan changed his wording after she flinched at the word ‘possess’ for the second time.

She shook her head. “I don’t, there was...something else that happened, and now i’m not so sure.” She stared at the floor. 

“What is it?” 

“He...he seemed kind of...insane? He was talking...to something that wasn’t there, or at least, something I couldn’t hear or see. Whatever it was, I think he called it a ghost, but...whatever it was did something that made him...freak out, and because of this, I was able to get away.”

“Tsurara...can you tell us anything else? How is it that you can still give us these details? If you were infected like the other yokai, you should’ve had a problem recounting things.”

Tsurara shook her head again. “It doesn’t make any sense to me. One second, he’s...he’s taunting me on whether to let me go and use me to ‘ruin the Nura clan from the inside out’ or...or something else, and then he was shouting at that thing or whatever again and the pain went away allowing me to leave.” She didn’t tell them about the voice...the one that knew her name...she had no idea if that was real or she had been hallucinating like the yokai,

“Did he have any other abilities?” Kubinashi asked.

“He could...well it seemed like he could manipulate shadows, if that’s even possible. He used them to block the entrance of the alley I was caught in.”

“What did he look like?” Kurotabo asked.

“Well, I do think he’s a nurarihyon...he had the right hair style and the right fear to match, but he was both too dis-similar and scarily alike Master Rihan and Master Nurarihyon. He didn’t seem to have on any special equipment, just regular clothes and a plain looking sword. His hair was white on top, black on the bottom. His eyes...the irises were red but the sclera were black.”

The same description as those humans. The same yokai.

“He…” Tsurara drifted off, like she was unsure of what she wanted to say.

“Yes?” Rihan urged her to continue.

“He looked...familiar...I don’t know why. Something about him was...familiar…” She looked at Rihan this time, and there was worry written all over her face.

“Have you seen him somewhere before? Did you encounter him another time and maybe you can’t remember?” Kubinashi interjected.

“No, it wasn’t like that...it was...I don’t know, he was familiar! That’s about all of it.”

“Thank you, Tsurara.” She looked at Rihan when he said this. “You’ve done well, and you gave us more information. Good job.” He placed his hand on her head and placatingly patted her a few times. 

Everyone left the room, save for Kejoro, to give Tsurara some space to breathe. It had gotten late while they had waited for her to wake up, the sunset painting the house in lovely colors. 

* * *

**He** had traveled back to headquarters after the...altercation with Yuki-Onna yesterday. **He** knew **he** needed to report, at least to Kosoku, what happened. **He** had traveled all around, even overnight, trying to avoid the conversation. Especially the part that apparently the Ghost had power over **him** …

“Ah! Sakura-chan! Just who I was looking for.” Came a voice from behind **him** . **He** turned, dreading talking to Kosoku.

“That’s still not my name.” **He** replied gruffly, trying to stall the conversation.

“And you’re still adorable if you think that’s gonna stop me.” She grinned and ‘booped’ **him** on the nose, to which **he** swatted her hand away angrily. “Now, what’s this about a Ghost?” she was clearly furious and a shiver went up **his** spine.

“I...the um...The Ghost...the one um...you always tell me to ignore, which I have! It just uh...well I was trying to possess another yokai of the Nura clan and it...intervened…” **He** shrunk under her gaze, scared of the wrath **he** _knew_ this would wrought.

“Intervened. How.” Her tone was furious, but that smile was still on her face. The smile that haunted-

_No, I’m not some weak brat, nothing haunts me, I’m not scared of her!_

“It took control of my head and made me lose the connection to the yokai, and therefore let the yokai escape because I lost control of the shadow illusions as well.” **He** finished. Better to get it over with.

Kosoku didn’t ever seem to need to breathe, and yet she took a deep breath in and out. Her eyes were closed and her expression was enraged, but still _she smiled_.

“Go to the _room_ . _Now_ .” Without fighting her, **he** turned and walked towards the room, **he** knew exactly where she wanted **him** to go.

The room was inlaid with rocks, from floor to walls to ceiling. The entire room, save for the door, looked the same all around. There was also a wooden chair in the center, covered in _mysterious_ stains. This was what everyone referred to as ‘Kosoku’s Playroom’. Those who hadn't been inside, they should count themselves lucky.

**He** walked into the room, only able to see because of the light from the hallway. Kosoku followed **him** in, and shut the door. She needn’t worry about being able to see, she had never had an issue in her _playroom._

“We’ve had some fun memories here, haven’t we?”

**He** sat in the chair, not knowing what would happen and unwilling to ask. The walls of the room allowed Kosoku’s voice to travel in any way she wanted, so **he** had no idea where in the room she was.

“I said, HAVEN’T WE?” Something grabbed **his** head from in front of **him** and slammed it back into the chair. Ah, so she wasn’t pissed yet. That probably meant **he’d** be able to leave the room.

“Tsk, tsk, not answering me. What a fucking brat. You’re a disgrace and I really wonder if I should have just had my fun and killed you till there was nothing left. I TOLD YOU HOW MANY TIMES TO IGNORE THE FUCKING GHOST, AND WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU SPOKE TO IT, ALLOWED IT ACCESS TO YOUR BODY AND FEAR.” She slammed **his** head a couple more times through that, and **his** head felt like it was burning, it was hot. Was it hot in the room?

“ANSWER ME, WHO DID YOU TRY, AND FAIL, TO POSSESS.”

**He** tried to gather enough moisture to speak, and that delay made Kosoku unhappy. She slapped **him**.

“It was...some...Yu...Yu...Y-” As **he** tried to get out the word _Yuki-Onna_ , Kosoku got angry that **he** was taking too long, and she hit **him** upside the head, making **him** feel a wave of nausea.

“SPEAK CLEARLY, TRASH.” She yelled at **him**.

“Yuki-Onna. She was a Yuki-Onna.” Another slap. And another. And another.

Kosoku, it turns out, might be pissed. After she had her fill of slapping **him** , she punched **him** in the gut, which made **him** feel like **he** might throw up.

**He** was so disoriented, unable to see anything in the dark room, and having been hit a number of times in the head. **He** could barely tell things like _my hand is touching the chair_ or _my foot is pointed outwards._

“The Yuki-Onna. Did she have blue hair and yellow eyes? Small body. Delicate features, very pale skin?” Kosoku asked.

**He** nodded his head, and immediately regretted not just speaking. It was too loud and too quiet in here all at the same time, **his** hearing was going in and out. 

And then **he** couldn’t breathe. There was something wrapped around **his** neck, choking **him** within an inch of passing out.

“YOU ROTTEN, USELESS, LITTLE BRAT! I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM THE HIGHER UPS UNTIL YOU WERE TOLD, AND YOU CAN’T EVEN DO THAT? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, DAMN BRAT?!”

And it was then, that **he** felt tired. Really tired and then there was nothing.

* * *

He blinked, his eyes trying to get accustomed to the darkness of the room even though they were just human eyes. There’d be no seeing in this room.

“ _You_ ” The word was said like an accusation. Kosoku had certainly realised the switch. As if that was a surprise.

“Good morning, Kosoku, how are you today?” If she had any doubts as to what just happened, the boy sitting in the chair now, calling her by name, resolved them.

“Let me guess, the fucking ‘Ghost’. Why are you still here, after, what was it, eight years? Dissapate already, or do you really still hold some childish, dumb hope that you’re getting out of this?” She pulled ropes from his neck.

“I guess I just can’t leave things be, now can I? Say, what’s wrong with us seeing Tsurara, huh?” he got a full frontal punch to the face for that. He coughed, but Kosoku didn’t let up, punching him in the ribs a couple times as he tried to breathe in and out.

The next time he tried to breathe in, a sharp pain came from his side. Either Kosoku had dislocated a few ribs, or they were broken. He’d felt enough through the years to know the feeling.

“You...are so _useless_ , that you haven’t even controlled your _own fucking body_ in _years_ , and yet today you do? WHY? DID YOU _REALLY_ THINK YOU COULD HELP THAT FUCKING YUKI-ONNA, THAT YOU HAVE _ANY_ CHANCE AT ALL IN HELPING THAT ROTTEN CLAN?” 

“Well, I must've helped, since you’re pissed and she got away.” He smiled, and he did it just because he knew it’d piss Kosoku off. He wondered where his sanity had gone, but clearly he didn’t have any left to figure out why taunting the demon of his life was a good idea.

“I am going to _purge your spirit_ until you don't exist-”

“And why haven’t you, hmm?” He cut her off with a pained chuckle. “It’s because you can’t, otherwise you’d lose your best asset, we are the same person, no matter what you tell **him**.”

“And yet you’re still fucked up enough to say ‘we’ and ‘us’. Your only use is your blood.” She smashed her geta on his feet, and he felt an inherent need to cradle them. No such things would happen.

“So I _do_ have a use then?” He grinned. In the next second, ropes wrapped around his neck and tightened hard. Oh _fuck_. If there was one thing he couldn’t handle, it was Kosoku’s ropes. The very things that haunted his mind, that were phantoms he never stopped feeling.

“You,” She tightened them more as she got close. “Are the worst _thing_ I have ever come across. You disgust me.” She spit at him, but he hadn’t the coherent mind to think where it went. “And look at you, thinking you’re all high and mighty, when you're ready to kill your own blood.”

He shook in fear and oxygen deprivation. His confidence from earlier had disappeared quicker than Kosoku’s readiness to berate him. He wasn’t himself anymore, but a scared, little child wanting to escape from this room.

“Oh yes, you are. You said it yourself, you and him are one and the same. So doesn’t that mean that everything he does and says, you want to do it too, right? Slaughtering yokai and humans, painting the common homes in fear and blood. Is it fun to see blood beat and move through the body in it’s last seconds? Do you enjoy it?”

He whimpered, tears running down his face. She released the ropes just enough that he wasn’t gonna pass out, but they were still restricting.

“You do, don’t you? What a gross thing you are.” He shook his head again, too delirious from fear to worry about the building concussion he was worsening. “You're not even human, and yet you're not yokai either. What are you? What are you, _scum_ ? You look better underneath a _boot_ than you do _alive_ .” _ She was right. She was...right. What was he? He wasn’t human, and he wasn’t a yokai. What was he?_ _ What are you? _ _ I’m nothing.  _ _ You’re nothing. If you’re nothing, what is your use? What can you do?_ _Nothing._ _ That’s right, and if you’re nothing, you should make room for something else, something that actually matters. You should go._ _I should...go..._

“That’s right. You should just dissipate. You’d make everyone happier.” _It’d make everyone happier?_ “Of course, without you in the way, everything would be so much better.” _ Right, I’m just in the way, how could I forget?_ _ Yes how could you, such a naughty boy. Haven’t I told you, what happens to little boys who don’t listen?_ _ No, I can listen, I can! I can be a good boy, I can listen, I promise!_ _ Then die._

_I should just die…_

* * *

**He** woke up. That alone told **him** that **he** had yet to piss Kosoku off completely. **He** had no idea what happened after **he** blanked out, but **he** felt worse than before. Kosoku must have been angry enough to punish **his** comatose body. **He** sat up, finding himself in the closet that could be referred to as his bedroom. There was a shelf, mostly filled with storage items, but one of the shelves had a blanket on it and was otherwise clear of stuff. This is where **he** slept, had spent **his** free time when at headquarters and it was enough to get by. 

**He** swung **his** legs over, and before **he** could even stand up, **he** felt sore. There weren’t any remaining injuries, whatever thing Kosoku usually did to heal **him** did it’s work, but there was always a soreness left, and **he** felt drained of energy despite just waking up. After taking another breath, **he** attempted to stand again. This time, **he** succeeded. **He** left the closet, and thought for a moment on what the best thing to do right now was. It was night, where **he** was **his** strongest. Should **he** go back out to take care of more yokai?

**He** decided, despite the risk, it’d be better to go ask Kosoku what to do. After walking through the hallways for a while, asking a few yokai, and getting slightly lost, **he** found her. She was drinking. 

“Hakase.” **He** greeted her. Her eyes narrowed immediately, but she was otherwise quiet. “I was wondering what you wanted me to do for the night.” **He** asked.

She still glared at **him** , but finally put her cup down. “Go fuck shit up.” She then filled her cup and continued drinking.

**He** nodded, and then remembered something, “Also, thank you for healing me. It certainly makes things easier to carry out the Master’s will without too many injuries.”

Kosoku’s eyes shot open and she stared openly at **him**.

“I didn't heal you.” She said. 

But then, if it wasn’t her, then who had done it?

“Seems we have some moron on base that’s too good for their own wellbeing. I have half the mind to _re-instruct_ you so that the lesson will actually stick. But since you need to get back to work, I'll let it slide _for now_. Do you understand me?” She stated harshly.

“Yes Hakase, I understand.” With that, **he** left, confused at who would heal **him**.

**He** found **himself** wandering the dark streets, looking for **his** next target. Everything was surprisingly quiet, and the Ghost wasn’t even with **him**.

**He** was alone for once. It was...too quiet. Not that **he’d** ask for the Ghost to come back, it was nothing but a problem that would always get in **his** way. A small part of **him** said, 

_Sure, you definitely don’t want me here…_

Wait, that wasn’t just something in **his** head! **He** shot around, and saw the Ghost smiling at **him**. He wore the same clothes, black kimono and red haori, but the Ghost somehow always looked gentler in the matching clothing.

“Why the hell are you here!” **He** whisper-yelled. **He** didn’t want to spook any potential victims, that’d be a damn shame.

_I heard that you missed me. So here I am._

“I definitely don’t miss you, I fucking hate you! You cause so many problems, why don’t you just dissipate!” **He** replied harshly.

_Ahh, right. You must agree with Kosoku, you’d be better off without me…_

**** The Ghost...looked _sad_ . What the hell? It always seemed to get this way around the time Kosoku would ‘enlighten’ **him**. Weak. Shy. Self-destructive speech.

_Why don’t we?_

“What?” **He** was pulled from **his** thoughts by the Ghost.

_ Let’s dissipate._ The Ghost faced him, and had an almost fanatical grin on his face, pain in his eyes. _ Let’s both dissipate, make things easier for everyone!_

**** What. The. _Fuck._

“What the hell happened to you?” **he** asked, not really thinking about _why_ **he** cared about the horrid Ghost’s feelings. It was creeping **him** out though.

_ I die, you die. I die, you die. I DIE, YOU DIE! _The Ghost screamed, suddenly falling to its knees, clutching it’s head.

“That’s a big fuckin’ nope.” **He** said to **himself** and kept walking, trying really hard to ignore the inane mutterings behind **him**.

But as **he** turned around, **he** came face to face with none other than Nura Rihan!

There was a pipe in his mouth, still lit, and his hair was waving in the breeze. His cheeks had a light flush to them, almost like he was drunk, but the enemy commander wasn’t dumb enough to wander seemingly _alone and drunk_...right?

“Well, looky here, it’s the nurarihyon!” A smile came on Nura Rihan’s face, like he was _glad_ he found **him**.

“Wha **…** ” **he** couldn’t say anything, **he** was stunned. 

“Huh, looks like Tsurara was right, you _do_ look kinda familiar!” Nura Rihan took a few steps in front of **him** , as if to get a better look. “Hmm...yeah, no doubt, I recognize you...but-”

**He** jumped back, as far as **he** could get away from Nura Rihan. **He** took off, trying to find anywhere to be but _here_. Following the guy the other night was one thing. Talking or fighting openly face-to-face was a completely different thing!

**He** glanced back, in an attempt to gage how far he’d gotten, but Nura Rihan was right there! He was following **him**!

“Leave me alone!” **He** yelled.

_ Oh look, it’s da-_

“You shut up!” **He** whirled around to the Ghost, who seems to have recovered from the earlier...whatever that was.

* * *

So...he kind of got what Tsurara meant now, that the nurarihyon was crazy. He was yelling at _nothing_. Well, not the weirdest person Rihan’s ever met. Nor was this the weirdest thing about the nurarihyon.

No, that honor was reserved for why the hell he looked _familiar._ But Rihan didn’t know why. Meh, it probably didn’t matter. For all he knows, it’s just that nurarihyon’s tend to look similar and so he was placing his own face on this yokai’s.

“Alright, well how about-”

“You leave now, Nura Rihan-chan? Yes I think that’s a great idea.” A voice interjected. Both he and the nurarihyon turned to see a female yokai walking towards them. She was _also_ familiar. 

But unlike the nurarihyon, he knew why.

“Kosoku.” He became enraged. Rihan had been haunted by that face, that voice, for years. He’d recognize it anywhere.

She hadn’t changed at all. She gracefully walked towards them, and stood next to the nurarihyon.

“Sakura-chan, I thought I told you to stay away from the higher ups.” She said seethingly while not looking away from Rihan.

“I was, Hakase! He followed me!” The yokai- _Sakura?_ -said earnestly. 

“So you were distracted enough that he snuck up on you, how disappointing. You and I will apparently have another _lesson_ in the room.”

The way Kosoku said ‘lesson’ seemed like a bad thing, not just reinstruction. Sakura’s eyes widened, and then fell to the ground. He kept glancing back at something between himself and Rihan, making faces, but Rihan couldn’t figure out what he was doing.

“Kosoku, you aren’t leaving here. You’re coming with me.” Rihan said, drawing his sword. 

She laughed. “That’s cute, but no. I’ve now got a brat to instruct, so if you’ll excuse me, we’ll be going now. 

Before she could slip away, ropes came from the shadows, wrapping around Kosoku and Sakura. Both looked confused and taken by surprise.

The noise of strings colliding and rubbing together got louder as a figure came from the shadows. 

Kubinashi.

“Master Rihan,” He said around a string in his mouth. “Please stop going off alone like this, it’s troublesome.”

Before Rihan could say anything, Sakura shifted angrily and said to _nothing_ , “Shut up! I don’t give a shit who ‘Kubinashi’ is! Be quiet!” 

Everything _was_ quiet. 

How...how did the yokai know Kubinashi? And how mean, he didn’t even care!

“Master, is that really-” Kubinashi’s voice came surprised and on the edge of rage.

“Yeah, it’s Kosoku.” He answered tensely.

Kosoku was pointedly ignoring them, staring at Sakura in what Rihan could only guess was utter rage.

“I told you, TO STOP FUCKING TALKING WITH IT! No more speaking!” She yelled in fury, Sakura’s mouth clamping shut with an audible clamp.

“You snake, what did you do with Young Master Rikuo all those years ago?!” Kubinashi roared at her.

Something Kubinashi said was apparently funny, because Kosoku _lost it._ She was laughing, and it was a hoarse, ugly thing to hear. 

She calmed herself down enough to answer him. “Go to hell.” Before the ropes on her and the yokai burst and she wrapped all of them up in a similar fashion to all those years ago, even Sakura.

As she had covered their mouths, and Kubinashi’s head was almost mummified to keep it from moving, Kosoku and Sakura left in silence, without so much as a struggle.

After some time, when he hadn’t a guess where they went, the leftover bindings wilted off, kind of like dried plants.

Rihan and Kubinashi looked at each other and then down to the ground. So close, _so close_ to new possible answers...and nothing. Utterly nothing.

They went home, in silence.

The yokai at the house seemed to understand that something happened because after the third person said something, everyone moved out of their way, completely mute.

Kubinashi and Rihan sat silently in the room where meetings usually took place. Soon after, Kejoro, Tsurara, Aotabo, Kurotabo, even Nurarihyon came to the room and sat, as if awaiting some terrible news.

“Master…” Kejoro began after too much silence. “Did...did something happen?”

Rihan glanced at Kubinashi, who was already looking at him. He looked back down and took the pipe from his mouth. “We had an encounter with Kosoku.” He stated plainly, numbly.

He had little reaction as everyone else (save for Kubinashi) exclaimed in surprise and began talking all at once, asking questions left and right.

“Did you…” The room became quiet again when Tsurara leaned forward. “Did you find anything out?” She looked earnest, and scared. 

“Absolutely nothing.” He replied depressedly. 

Frozen tears fell from Tsurara’s eyes, and Kejoro once again held and comforted her. The room was quiet...suffocatingly so, with the sounds of harsh breathing, and Rihan could feel his eyes watering. 

He had failed his son once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who skipped: 1st section, Tsurara explains the attack and describes how she was feeling; 2nd and 3rd section, the nurarihyon gets tortured by Kosoku; 4th and 5th, the nurarihyon goes on a mission and meets Rihan and Kubinashi, Kosoku comes in later and the two escape.
> 
> Thank you for reading ;)


	5. Chapter 5

Lately, the state of the Nura Clan was going into utter chaos.

And Tsurara, not that she was conceited, felt like some of the weirdest stuff was happening to her.

*flashback*

She was finally calmed down, going back to her regular duties like folding laundry. It was the next day, so She sat by the pond where Kappa was, just sorting and folding laundry, hanging clothes as needed. Being useful.

_ I should just die… _

It made her jump. That wasn’t...her right? No matter how far she was pushed she hadn’t ever thought she should just die. It...to be honest, it sounded kind of like the voice she heard in the alley, the one that knew her name. But that couldn’t be right, people didn’t just hear voices like it was normal! Could this be a side effect of the poss-

Nope. Don’t think of that word.

Maybe it was a side effect though. But she hadn’t heard from any of the yokai that were ‘infected’ that they were hearing voices.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” Tsurara said out loud, gauging if anyone was around. Kappa answered her, but she just told him not to worry, it was nothing. She heard no more.

And when darkness had fallen that night, she was helping wash dishes when she heard it again. 

_ I die, you die. _

She jumped back, pulling a Lady Wakana move and dropping a dish.

“Tsurara, are you alright?” Lady Wakana asked from her side. 

“O-oh, yes! I’m fine, I just, uh, it slipped! Haha…” she brushed it off, grabbing a broom to clean up the fallen dish.

_ I die, you die. _

There it was again! This time, she didn’t drop anything, but-

_ I DIE, YOU DIE! _

That made her jump and drop the pieces she had just swept up. So that voice was there, yelling at her(?) that they would both die? Was that right?

Tsurara apologized to Lady Wakana, making an excuse that she heard something outside. The simple minded woman took the bait and left the matter alone. Tsurara said she was feeling a little dizzy, so she was going to take a step outside. Lady Wakana said she could leave the dishes to her, and promptly dropped a dish.

She heard nothing of the voice the rest of the night. Who knows if it was because it’s owner stopped, or if it’s because she was distracted at the mention of Kosoku from Master Rihan.

Such sadness.

*End Flashback*

Even after a full night to think about it, Tsurara didn’t know what that voice was. Master Rihan and Kubinashi had sulked worse than the others, no doubt blaming themselves for not getting anything.

Tsurara could understand. Like them, she too was haunted by Kosoku, after all these years she still sometimes got reminded of her, and it angered her. How was she so... _weak_ that she was the most useless of the only three who’d seen Kosoku on That Day? 

It made sense...Master Rihan surely had to know that, without needing a caretaker for Young Master Rikuo, Tsurara had little use. While she wasn’t weak, she wasn’t as strong as the main family attendants, like Kurotabo and Aotabo, like Kubinashi and Kejoro. 

What place did _she_ have among _them_?

Tsurara was cleaning today, the laundry having been finished yesterday and cooking dinner didn’t need to be started until much later. She was sweeping the sidewalk of the main entrance, chatting with the smaller yokai here and there.

It was surprisingly peaceful. Master Rihan had taken his aides and left for Ukiyoe Town earlier, saying they were going to go scout either for another appearance of the Displacement User or Kosoku.

Tsurara wished them luck. Right now, the biggest enemy was that Displacement User but with Kosoku’s sudden appearance after eight years of nothing? It couldn’t be coincidental. Maybe...to be honest it wasn’t just a maybe. Tsurara had hope that after all these years, their young master was alive. She was also worried, however, because if he truly was alive this whole time, what had the Hyaku Monogatari Clan _done_ to him? Tsurara didn’t wanna think about it anymore.

She continued sweeping, even after the small yokai got bored and left her alone. After this many years of doing normal household chores, she had found them soothing. To be of use to the clan and do the jobs others didn’t want to, _that_ she was good for.

_ I wish this would end… _

Tsurara stopped sweeping. The voice! It was back! She had finally decided last night that it couldn’t be her, she had never heard something like it before. That meant that it had to be another yokai! Although, Tsurara had never heard of a yokai that would speak in the mind of other yokai like this.

_ I wish the pain would stop...I wish she would just stop… _

So whomever was speaking to her was in pain. They wanted someone, seemingly a woman, to leave them alone. Could...could Tsurara possibly talk to them? Help them?

_ Are...you okay?  _Tsurara ‘thought’. It was a strange thing, to ask a voice in her head a question, but if she thought of it as speaking to another person, maybe it wouldn’t be as weird.

_ What? What was that? I...that must have been my imagination... _

The voice...Tsurara couldn’t really tell anything from it. It was like thinking in her own mind, she wasn’t sure, if she ever met them, that she’d be able to recognize a voice. It was...just something she heard, nothing that she could guess, no pitch, no strain, nothing to identify it. For all she knew, this really was just a voice in her head.

_ No, I...you said you were in pain...are you okay? _

_ Wha-You...you sound like...no that can’t be...there’s no w- _

The voice cut off, but whatever it was, they definitely recognized Tsurara, though they obviously thought that Tsurara being able to communicate with them was impossible, so they weren’t projecting their thoughts on purpose? She needed to get to the bottom of this. 

Tsurara put the broom away and made sure she wasn’t needed for anything, and then she went to a secluded area and tried again.

_I don’t know if I am who you think I may be, but my name’s Tsurara. I...want to help you…_

_ You can hear me, Tsurara? How? Do...do you know...who I am? _

She shook her head to no one. _ I don’t know who you are...but ever since...ever since I...went through something a few days ago...I've been hearing a voice every now and then...your voice… _

_ Oh no...I’m so sorry...that must have been such a bother...you can ignore me, it’s okay… _

_ What? No! I’m not gonna ignore you! You’re...you’re hurt and...somehow you know me...I wanna know why...but that can wait until you’re not in pain any more...can I ask why you’re in pain? _

There was a long pause before the voice answered. 

_ I...let’s just say I’m being treated unwell by someone I've been stuck with for many years...I uh...yeah...that’s about all I’m going to say… _

_ Oh...I’m so sorry...is there anyway you can...i don’t know...leave? Escape? _

_ It’s not that simple... _ The voice said. _ She-my captor-controls everything I do...and even if I could get out of this place...she has a sort of...control...over me...I don’t know how it works...but more times than I probably remember, she’s known what I was thinking...or where I was… _

So it was probably a yokai, someone with an ability to read minds? Or influence other minds? Tsurara couldn’t think of any on the spot, but it didn’t sound too far-fetched of an ability.

_ That would certainly make things more difficult...say, are you...a yokai? _

They would have to be, to speak with Tsurara like this, right? Unless, and this would be utterly impossible, it was some kind of Onmyouji technique...which really made no sense.

_ I-uh...I’m...yeah...you could say that I am...a yokai… _

_ Oh, how interesting, can I know your name? So that I can call you something other than ‘the voice’? _

She didn’t receive an answer for a while. Tsurara thought for a minute that maybe she’d scared the voice away. Was asking for a name a bad idea?

_ I...I can’t...I’m sorry… _

_ No! No, you have nothing to apologize for! I completely overstepped my bounds! Please, don’t worry about it…_

Well, now what? It was a tense silence, neither sure what to say. What was to be said? ‘Hey, it’s actually really suspicious that I can’t know your name’? No way! 

_ Sorry, Tsurara...I could probably just be really quiet until whatever this...connection is, breaks…_

_ Wait, no! Don’t go! Um...you...uh...how do you know my name?_

The voice was silent once again. It seemed that this was a difficult question.

_ Because...I’ve...heard it before...it doesn’t matter, not really. I have no way of divulging secrets about you, if I did know any. No worries._

Tsurara wasn’t so sure she could trust this thing. I mean, It was a literal voice in her head, but it also didn’t tell the truth? Tsurara was about to say that it was in fact important, and that the voice needed to tell her what exactly was going on, when the voice suddenly came back.

_ Shit, she’s coming back in...oh no...no no no no no…._

_ What is it? Who is she? Can you hide from her? _

_ She’ll always find me...there’s nothing to be done…_

Tsurara wasn’t sure how to help. There really wasn’t anything she could do, with no idea who or where this voice was. But she couldn’t just leave them to whoever was tormenting them. She had to do something...what if she could help them personally?

_ Are you near Tokyo? _

_ I...I think so, why? _

_ You...you could come to my home, to my clan’s home. We could protect you, even if you’re a weak yokai! We could help you, save you from whoever ‘she’ is. And I'm sure we could find a way to break whatever connection she has on you… _

_ You...you would do that? No, no what am I saying, I couldn’t, I shouldn’t...he’d surely be angry, and if he knew, i’d just put all of the Nura clan in danger..._

It was obvious the voice wasn’t really talking to her anymore, but when it mentioned the Nura clan by name, Tsurara knew that they needed to get out of there. She would never be able to gauge what kind of sensitive information this yokai had, or who they could sell it to. Better not to take a chance.

_ Yes, you can come. Do you know where it is? I promise you, on my honor as a member of this clan, I’ll protect you!_

_ I...yeah...I know where it is...I...could I really...thank you...thank you, thank you so much...I...okay, i’ve gotta get out of here fir-_

The voice cut off. Tsurara waited a minute and tried speaking to it. Nothing happened. She waited some more, walked to another part of the house, nothing brought it back. The voice was gone again. But this time, it wasn’t a total loss.

They were coming here.

* * *

He woke up, surprisingly in control of his body. He could count the number of time’s he’d been in control of this body on just his two hands, and that was an incredibly large difference between normal people, who didn’t have others to fight for control of their body.

He sat up, finding himself in the usual room (closet) but at least he was alone. His body was sore, and he looked down to see a brand new kimono, or as brand new as a kimono given to him could get. The point was, it wasn’t the one he passed out in. Which meant that Kosoku had been upset enough to injure him past blacking out, but also enough that his clothes were ruined.

He..wasn’t sure what to do now. He had somehow made a connection to _Tsurara_ while he was knocked out. 

Tsurara!

How that was possible, he hadn’t even put together yet, and probably wouldn’t for a while. It wasn’t important anyways. Tsurara had said that she would protect him, if he came to her. She had said that without even knowing who he was, or how he knew things about her and the clan! 

She...was as kind as he remembered. Though he had forgotten what she looked like for so long, only just remembering the other day when **he** attacked her, he remembered her voice well. It was a comfort, in his darkest moments.

And now he had a clear invitation to see her again, without a demented yokai attacking her, and maybe even without Kosoku’s wrath, if he could really be saved from her…

He decided he hadn’t any more time to lose, and needed to get out of here. So he used the tiring ability that only he knew about. A warm, off-white glow came from his fingertips as he held his hands over the most injured and pained areas.

He wasn’t really sure where this ability came from, but it had always been useful after Kosoku-or anyones elses-’lessons’, as the Hyaku Monogatari Clan liked to call them. 

It was full on torture. No ‘re-education’ could convince him or his younger self that this was a normal thing.

**Him** on the other hand... **he** was another thing altogether.

But he hadn’t any time, he needed to get out of here. After finishing up the worst of the wounds, he was too tired to finish everything off, so it would have to be good enough.

He carefully opened the door, and before he walked out, he grabbed a horo from the shelf, and put it on. After checking that the hall was empty, he crept out, and walked silently in the direction of the exit. He could cry at the fact that no one bothered him, but that’d be telling so he didn’t.

And then...he was outside.

Like, _outside_ outside. 

He hadn’t felt the sun or breeze in years, and _that_ had his eyes watering. 

Once he came back to himself, he started running as far as he could from the base. When he got to populated areas, he walked fast paced so as to not stand out. He thought maybe it’d be a good idea to go to the alleyways so any of the Hyaku Monogatari yokai allies wouldn’t see him and potentially recognize him, but he realised that being in a place surrounded by people, other humans, gave him a better cover.

To be honest, he may have told Tsurara that he could get to the Nura Clan’s Main House, but he really had no idea. Once he recognized some landmarks, he’d hopefully be able to find his way there, but until then, he was screwed.

He was actually surprised at how few looks he got from the humans, wearing an old kimono and a horo. 

He stopped and turned around, trying to see if he could recognize street names or maybe buildings, but that’s when he noticed _her._

Kosoku.

She had found him. How long had she let him think he had a chance?

He immediately turned back, but it was too late. He ducked behind people, and started running, wasting no time thinking if it was weird to the humans. He ran until there was a wait time to cross the street, and after that he continued. What could he do? Did he have any chance?

He felt his heart pounding, his breathing wild, his palms sweaty. There wasn’t anything he recognized around here. He turned some corners, and crossed to the other side of the road, doing anything he could think of to lose her.

Just as he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, she was near he knew, he finally recognized something.

He had found himself in an area that signs and nearby humans seemed to call ‘Ukiyoe Town’. He didn’t recognize any of the places here, no. He saw _someone._

On the street a ways away was Kubinashi, and at his side, Kejoro.

_ Kubinashi! Kejoro! I know them!_

“KUBINASHI! KEJO-” He was in the middle of trying to get their attention, having thrown the whole ‘don’t get recognized by the Nura Clan’ plan out the window in his panic, when something grabbed him and pulled him into the alley.

He was shoved against a building wall, his feet dangling as he stared into the eyes of _Kosoku._

“I am going to rip you to shreds and make sure your spirit can’t even take form for years to come. And if you fall asleep for it, I will wake you up, and start over.” 

There was a solid, definite way to know how angry Kosoku was. Her smile. 

She wasn't smiling.

She was definitely going to do exactly as she had just told him.

“But first, I’m going to need to make you docile enough to bring home.” Her eyes glowed and the black marking on her face _rippled_ , and he was out cold.

* * *

**He** woke up to an angry Kosoku and the sun being in **his** eyes. **He** didn’t remember going outside.

“What...Hakase, where are we? Did I...how did I get here?” **He** asked Kosoku as she put **him** down on the ground. **He** took a look around, and when **he** didn’t recognize the area immediately, **he** got even more confused.

“That’s none of your concern. We’re going back to base, right now.” 

**He** looked out into the street and saw all the humans going about their day. How annoying, if only the humans would just realise there was a superior species that they ought to get out of the way of. They were so annoying, and weak.

"What’s this? How _lovely_ to see you again, Kosoku.” A voice said.

Both **he** and Kosoku turned to the mouth of the alley to see two yokai, one being the person named ‘Kubinashi’ from yesterday, and a woman who had fans in her hands and slightly glowing hair. Kubinashi had his strings out, one caught in his mouth and the others ready in his hands.

“Yes, i’m sure you’re so glad to see me. We’ll be going now though, so step aside.” Kosoku replied and pulled out her own ropes. 

The two yokai, both a manipulator of bindings, stared down silently, their faces pulled in a grimace. 

Kosoku made the first move. She shot a rope in the yokai’s direction, only for it to be blocked by the woman’s hair. It extended and coiled in front of the two, obviously acting as their defence.

“Dammit.” Kosoku cursed quietly. She then grabbed **his** arm and lept out of the alley onto the building above them, running away. Kubinashi and the other woman followed, though caught off guard.

They ran across the building tops for some time before Kosoku decided to lose them by jumping down and running on foot. When an abandoned wide area leading into a forest of trees came into view, Kosoku and **he** leapt to it.

Just as they were about to continue to the trees, a figure appeared in front of them. Kosoku shot her ropes at it, but the figure melted into fissures, like fire going out.

They pulled to a stop, and Kosoku glared at the figure that appeared before them.

“Hey Kosoku, i’ve been looking for you! And look, you’ve brought Sakura as well!” Nura Rihan called out.

**He** was pissed. **He** could do nothing about Kosoku calling **him** that, but **he** wouldn’t stand for _Nura Rihan_ doing it too!

“That’s not my name!” **He** responded. Nura Rihan’s comrades caught up, and **he** and Kosoku were surrounded.

“Ah, forgive me, I just heard her call you that. So, what is your name then, I’d be happy to call you something else.” Nura Rihan grinned, his right eye shut and his tone teasing.

Kosoku’s hand shot out and slapped **him** in the face. “Be quiet!” She yelled at **him**.

Of course, **he** forgot himself. **He** stayed just behind her, looking around at the other yokai.

They seemed....so... _familiar..._

* * *

What a chance encounter this was! Meeting once again, this time though, Rihan wouldn’t let her go without a fight. He unsheathed his sword, and he glanced to his side, seeing his comrades readying their weapons as well. 

The nurarihyon looked to Kosoku, as if awaiting her approval. She looked pissed. Rihan was beginning to think anger might be her only emotion, besides overwhelming arrogance. 

“Kosoku,” He began, stepping in front of his attendants. “No one is going to let you leave, I promise you that. You’ll be coming with us.” His aides nodded with him in agreement. 

Kosoku glared at him, and then readied her ropes for an attack. Rihan was about to yell to everyone to get away, but she made no moves with them. The ropes gathered in her hands, and he could see her invoke her fear, but the ropes didn’t take the fear.

_ What is she planning?_

“Sakura-chan,” Kosoku turned her head and looked behind her at the nurarihyon. “Unsheathe your blade and take my fear.” 

_ What?_

“Master Rihan,” Kubinashi came forward. “Do you know what she’s planning?”

He didn’t even have time to answer Kubinashi when Kosoku seemed to _evaporate_ and her fear was sucked into the sword of the nurarihyon. The nurarihyon took on a drastic change in appearance. His kimono was white, with random red lines criss crossing all over. He had geta on his feet and a haori that was opposite in pattern and color to his kimono. Ropes surrounded his body and his sword had holes through the blade that the ropes came through.

It looked like...Rihan when he used Matoi Kasane! How was this possible?

“What are you? Are you a half human too?” Rihan shouted at him, confused. He would never expect the Hyaku Monogatari Clan to have a half-blood in their ranks.

“Oh he won’t be answering anytime soon.” A hoarse, cracking voice came from the yokai. He looked up at Rihan and his red irises were glowing, with white pupils overlapping them. “Sakura-chan has been put to sleep.” The yokai finished, standing straight up and grinning creepily at Rihan. It looked like the same enraged and wide grin from...

“Kosoku?!” Rihan put the pieces together. Somehow, the nurarihyon had allowed Kosoku to possess him. But, if this was like Matoi, then he should still be in control!

The ropes surrounding ‘Kosoku’ shot out at the command of their master, and Rihan jumped away to dodge. He and the others were almost too stunned to avoid the attacks, but they quickly realised that the _how_ of this situation really wasn’t important.

Rihan invoked his fear, avoiding the ropes as they slashed right through his illusion. He tried to think of a plan to stop the ropes. He wasn’t having much luck. 

“What’s wrong, Rihan-chan? Are you too scared to confront me?” Kosoku called out. While still in control of the nurarihyon body, she began slashing with the sword, attempting to find and cut Rihan’s fear. “Poor Rihan-chan, will never know what he desires. He will never find out the truth.” She laughed maniacally. Kosoku was truly insane. Suddenly, she paused in her attacks and turned around, glaring at the wind. “ _You..._ how the hell are you still here?! You should be asleep, stowed away with him!” 

So...either the nurarihyon Kosoku was possessing learned how to talk to _nothing_ from her, or possessing him had allowed her to _‘see’_ whatever it is that he does. But what did she mean, when she talked to the ‘nothing’, that it should be ‘asleep’ and ‘with him’?

Rihan stopped dwelling on such questions and decided to come forward in a straight on attack. He cut down, and met Kosoku’s blade. Luckily, the slash had cut most of the ropes, meaning Kosoku couldn’t immediately trap Rihan.

“What’s up, Kosoku? Going insane?” He taunted, pushing the blade back. 

She pulled the face into a grimace, and the white pupils over red irises grew bigger, like they too were possessing something.

“Do you honestly think you’re going to capture me? How many times have I evaded you? How many times have you lost to me?” She grinned coldly.

“Master!” He heard Kubinashi from behind him. 

Before Rihan could so much as think of a response, he heard Kuratabo’s _‘Anki Kuroenbu!’_ and a thousand blades shot at Kosoku. She attempted dodging, but backed into Aotabo, who came from behind her and grasped both arms with enough strength that there were sure to be bruises. There was hair-it looked like Kejoro’s _Asobi Onna no Mai_ -sitting just out of Rihan’s eye-sight, ready to attack. Kubinashi came forward, using a spider chain to tie Kosoku up. She couldn’t move, save for looking up from the ground at Rihan and his attendants. 

“Looks like we did win, Kosoku.” Rihan grinned. “Wanna come willingly, or do we have to knock you out?”

Kosoku was looking at the ground, and at his words, she began to chuckle. Rihan hadn’t heard the nurarihyon laugh, but he was sure it didn’t sound like this, sickly and hoarse. What did she have planned? Did they fall into a trap?

“No matter…” She began, looking up at Rihan with those freaky eyes; white pupils, red irises, and black sclera. “...what happened today, whether I escaped or you were defeated, you still lost. With my trump card, I will _always_ win against you.” She grinned.

“What trump card?” Kubinashi asked from his right, pulling on his strings.

Kosoku wasn’t deterred by the tighter bindings. She stared wide eyed at Rihan, and her smile got bigger and bigger. “Take a guess.” She said, absolutely no fear in provoking them.

It took a minute for Rihan to realise what she meant. _She would always win._ How exactly? How did she really know she’d never lose, not because she was stronger, but because she had _something_ to hold over Rihan.

As soon as he put the pieces together, Rihan got to his knees and pulled at the hem of the white kimono. “Where is my son?!” He yelled in her face.

She grinned even further and threw her head back, laughing. Kubinashi pulled at the strings again, but it made no difference.

Instead of answering Rihan, she pulled her face back up and looked to Rihan’s left. “He can’t hear your cries, little brat. He’ll never hear or see you, and you’ll be nothing but a phantom until Sakura-chan’s death.” 

Okay, that wasn’t just something to ignore. Rihan looked to his left, but there was nothing there. Not a ghost, a phantom, nothing. What was Kosoku-and the nurarihyon-seeing that none of them could? 

Rihan stood back up. He looked around at the angry faces of his attendants.

“Keep her tied up. Bring her back to the house for interrogation.” 

“Yes, Master.” They answered.

Today was different. They didn’t bring home sorrow and disappointment. They brought home answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A "horo" is the best my research came up with as to a 'Japanese cloak with a hood', they pretty much look like the cloaks worn in SNK/AOT and I'm sorry if thats actually an incorrect word, i'm doing my best.
> 
> Anki Kuroenbu - Kurotabo's 'Dance of the Black Weapons'
> 
> Asobi Onna no Mai - Kejoro's 'Disheveled Hair: Dance of the Courtesan'
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter, thank you for reading ;)


	6. Chapter 6

Kosoku was in the house. She was _in the house_ , and she was here as a _prisoner_. 

They had won, maybe not the war, but they won a battle. She was in their hands now, and they’d get whatever they could out of her.

For the time being, the mansion was alight with hope for their Young Master’s possible return. Others were still wary that she had to be bluffing about being able to hold something over their head, as she had to play just about any card right now to stay alive.

But some, like Tsurara, held out hope. The sweet, mischievous Young Master that she had barely gotten to know, _maybe_ he was alive, _maybe_ he could come home.

Tsurara wasn’t among Master Rihan’s attendants, so she wasn’t able to sit in on meetings. Master Rihan had offered her to come, but she could tell it was just to fill the awkward atmosphere about her being there in the first place, so she declined.

But damn if she didn’t _really_ wanna be in there. 

Instead, Tsurara was stuck in the lonesome room she shared with Kejoro, sitting in silence save for the noise of the household all around her. _No_ , she was absolutely _not_ sulking, it was the correct thing to do, declining a sit in of the Kosoku interrogation. It wasn’t her business.

So she sat in the dark, with the screen to the outside open, facing a yokai-less area of the grounds, and she stared at the sky. The moon wasn’t visible from this angle, but she could see the stars. It was calming.

_Tsurara!_

Tsurara jumped. It was the voice! She looked all around her, expecting to see some kind of yokai, out in the yard, maybe in the room with her, or even on the roof somehow, but there was nothing.

Well, that’s not true.

Within the room, was a body, minus the head. Well, yes, there was a head, but most of it was blurred, and Tsurara was barely able to make out that it _did indeed_ have hair. The figure was transparent, kind of like the human film she had once seen and their depiction of a ‘ghost’. But this one wasn’t dressed like a ghost, who wore white kimonos and a triangle headband.

It was dressed like any other person, a rumpled black (more like gray due to the transparent-ness) kimono and red haori. Their face was cloudy, blurred and she couldn’t make anything out. There were very faint hands and feet folded in front of them, but they were almost gone to the air.

_Hello, Tsurara._

She got the feeling it was smiling. Correction, it seemed that with the appearance of a body (even a non-opaque one) she could now tell that the ‘ghost’ was male. His voice was masculine now, though not so deep in pitch, so he seemed young.

_Oh my...uh, hello…_

There was no answer. The figure was still there, but he did not respond to her ‘thinking’ voice. She tried a few other things, saying anything that came to mind, but he answered nor commented on nothing.

_Oh! I forgot, um, now that I am...here, you’ll have to speak out loud. It’s not...a mental connection isn’t...needed, anymore._

**** “I see, so you can hear me now? When I speak out loud?” She asked to be sure.

_Yes, hello Tsurara_

**** “Hello to you too. How come...how come I can’t see you fully? You’re...blurry.”

_I am not strong enough to manifest myself fully. After we lost contact, I did indeed escape, but I was eventually captured again. I only just became conscious again._

**** “Wait, if you were captured again, how am I now _seeing_ you? Speaking of which, what _are_ you? Are you a ghost? I thought you were a yokai?”

_This...might be hard to understand, but I promise it’s the truth. I am a ghost and a yokai. Technically speaking, anyways. I...do you remember when you were attacked the other day by...uh...the nurarihyon?_

**** He said the word ‘nurarihyon’ so uneasily, like he wasn’t sure he was using the right word.

“Yes, I remember...very clearly.” Tsurara looked at the floor, pained by her memories of the attack.

_I...I think maybe you would understand this, but basically, I’m the ‘ghost’ that he was talking to…_

**** The figure’s hands came up and made quotations at the word ‘ghost’. It was kind of cute.

“ _You’re_ the ghost!? So he wasn’t insane, he could actually see and talk to something! But wait, what are you if only he could see you, and now I can see you?” This was both getting harder and easier to understand.

_I’d rather not explain all of it right now, but he and I are connected in a way. And when he tried to possess-_

**** The figure flinched when it saw Tsurara cringe at the word ‘possess’. He quickly changed his phrasing.

_Err...when he tried to take over your mind, I intervened. I think I’ve understood that our connection, the one that let us talk earlier and the one that's letting us communicate now, all sprung from me severing the fear he attached to you. And when that string was cut, it anchored to me somehow, and now, as we can see, I have someone else to talk to!_

**** He said the last bit cheerfully. Tsurara could almost imagine that he was grinning, but having no face made that difficult.

“So, you and I are now connected? Does that mean you can see into my head?!” Tsurara realised. Was he actually a spy for the nurarihyon?

_No. That’s the simplest answer, anyways. I don't know how the connection works, and I wouldn’t spy on you even if I did. Him succeeding...was never something I wanted._

This surprised Tsurara. She had observed that the nurarihyon disliked whatever thing he was speaking to, but she didn’t know that it would be something he could consider an enemy.

“Why? Why are we-am I-your ally but he is your enemy?”

The figure fidgeted.

_I...wouldn’t necessarily say he’s my enemy, he’s just misguided. He’s never known anything but the Hyaku Monogatari clan, while I have other memories. Memories from my...nevermind, the point is that I don’t think you should see him as your enemy. He’s definitely not an ally, don’t get that mixed up._

**** “I see…” Tsurara contemplated his words. So apparently, the nurarihyon was a complicated case. She had seen, and it was explained to her, that Kosoku had merged with the nurarihyon. Which made him a half yokai. That was as far as Tsurara knew, but maybe the half-blood status meant that there was hope. That he could end up being an ally of theirs, and enemy to the Hyaku Monogatari clan. He was certainly an asset.

“Back to one of my first questions,” Tsurara began, looking at the figure, who appeared to have been staring out the open panel and now faced her. “I know now that you have a connection with the nurarihyon, who is here in the house, but who was your captor? If you’re just a spirit, one that can’t be seen by anybody, why couldn’t you just leave?”

It wasn’t adding up. What, or who, could trap an invisible spirit?

_Ah...that...you see...I was captured by um…~~~_

**** He mumbled something at the end there, his form folding in on itself. 

“By who?” Tsurara asked again.

His body was tense till he sighed like he’d given up. 

_ Kosoku_

**** One word, and Tsurara felt like she got the picture. This yokai-spirit-person was captured by Kosoku, and he was connected through some means to the nurarihyon, and when he tried to escape, Kosoku must have come to get him, probably with the nurarihyon, and he was too weak to fight back. That was why Kosoku had been out, and now they had her.

So the Nura clan had this ghost to thank for finally getting the most hated of their enemies. 

“I see, are you okay? I’m sure being...stuck with her wasn’t a good time.” She asked, scooting closer on the floor to his body. 

His slouched form suddenly sat up and his hands were held in front of him, palms facing upwards, and she could just barely make out multiple lines criss-crossed all over them. She glanced away quickly trying not to stare. His head was ducked and by now she could make out short spiky hair, but still no face. That didn’t matter though, because she could see the red hue of his face. He was blushing, but why?

_ Uh, I’m fine! Just fine! Heh, heh, I’m perfectly okay!_

“Are you alright? I can see that your face is red, you’re not running some kind of fever are you?” She placed her hand on his forehead, forgetting what happened the last time she burnt herself from one of Master Rihan’s hands in fever, but realised that he wasn’t _just_ transparent. She couldn’t touch him, her hand going right through his face. Which made for an awkward moment when she jumped away, embarrassed that she’d just had her hand _in his face,_ and he tried to tell her there was nothing to worry about. The room was stuck in silence then.

Then there were footsteps outside the door. Tsurara completely forgot about the ghost in the room and left to see what was happening. 

She found the little yokai talking about something that happened in the interrogation of Kosoku, so Tsurara made her way to the room Master Rihan had taken Kosoku to. When she made it there, she found Master Rihan and the attendants (sans Aotabo and Kurotabo) talking outside, looking upset.

“Master Rihan? Did something happen?” She came closer, interrupting them.

“Tsurara...well, to be honest, she’s being a complete pain in the ass. She’s just taunting us, and she refused to separate from the nurarihyon so we can’t get anything from him either. Ao and Kuro are watching her right now. I’m just not sure what to do.” He folded his arms and leaned against the wall.

_ I could help._

It took monumental effort for Tsurara not to jump in front of the others. Apparently, the ghost that she now realised she had left in her room, did not in fact stay put and came with her. She turned back to see him, and noticed that she could almost see a mouth on him. His hands were fully there and he looked much less see-through.

“What do you mean?” She whispered very carefully, trying not to draw the attention of the others in the hall.

_ I might be able to get through to Kosoku. I don’t know if you’re up to it, but I may be able to take over your body to speak with her, and others. Even if I can’t get through to her, I have valuable information the Nura clan would want. Before any of that though, you should tell d-uh, Rihan-er, Master Rihan._

**** There was a lot to unpack there, but Tsurara’s head was pounding with the fact that she’d have to let him take over her body to do what he said. It’d be like what the nurarihyon almost did, right? But this ghost was the one that freed her from that, he couldn’t be bad, right?

“You’re sure this could work?” She whispered back.

He nodded. _I think so._

**** “Okay.” Tsurara took a breath in, preparing herself for the insanity she was about to unleash. “Master Rihan?” 

He looked up at her from his slouch against the wall, taking his pipe in hand to speak to her. “What’s up, Tsurara?” He looked open, kind, and she could only hope that that meant he’d give her a chance.

“Could I...speak to you in private? Or at least not in the hallway? Kejoro and Kubinashi are welcome of course.” She asked.

The three yokai looked surprised, looking between each other and Tsurara. Master Rihan took another drag of his pipe, blew it out, and said, “Sure thing. Let me just notify Kuro and Ao, and we can go.”

* * *

They went to one of the small meeting rooms, and Master Rihan sat himself at the center of the dais, with Kubinashi leaning on the wall beside him, Kejoro kneeling off to the side. Tsurara sat directly in front of Master Rihan, in the center of the room. The ghost sat to her left.

“Alright, what is it, Tsurara?” Master Rihan asked.

The room was quiet, awkward in Tsurara’s case, as everyone in the room looked to her. She looked down at her hands curled up on her knees, and took a deep breath, reading herself to sound like a lunatic.

“I...have something to admit, and I don’t know what you would have done in my case, but I promise, Master, that my actions were...they didn’t mean any malicious intent towards the Nura Clan.” She finally looked at Rihan, as she got the last bit out.

His eyes widened, as did the others in the room. The look on his face was like that of a parent getting ready to listen to a child defend _why_ they broke a vase. He took a drag of his pipe, turning Tsurara’s words over in his head, and then gestured for her to continue.

“Truthfully...Master Rihan, I may not have explained the full extent of what...the nurarihyon did to me. Or, I suppose, exactly everything that occurred. There’s more.” She turned sheepish.

Rihan’s eyes narrowed. “Tsurara, were you still connected to the nurarihyon? Did you give him information?”

Tsurara’s head shot up. “No! I would never! I promise! It-it’s not...I didn’t lie, the connection between me and the nurarihyon was and is gone. But...It's how it’s gone that I didn’t tell you. And I didn’t tell you not because I wasn’t able to or because...whatever other reason. I just...it didn’t really make any sense to me, and even now it's difficult to wrap my head around. So, if you would, please, allow me to explain. I’ll answer any questions you have.” She looked earnestly at Rihan, even peaked at Kubinashi and Kejoro to gauge them. All three seemed skeptical, but said nothing, waiting.

Tsurara took a quick glance to the ghost, and he gave her a thumbs up.

_ Alright, let’s just get this over with_

“Basically, when the nurarihyon ‘infected’ me, I felt the connection in a sickly, gross feeling, my head pounding and my stomach upset. Then, after he had...threatened me, about the Nura Clan and about what he was gonna make me do, he...went crazy. 

“You met him, Master Rihan, you know he...sees _something_ , can speak with this _something_ , well, he went off on that something. He spoke, I should say yelled, at it. And at that time, I wasn’t...coherent, a little preoccupied with what I was feeling, so I can’t say for sure how it happened, but, what I do know, is that one moment he’s just spouting off at me, and the next he blanks out, like he stops talking and staggers back, and the nausea, the pounding in my skull, it was gone. 

“I...I didn’t immediately run away, I was still very much out of it, but the nurarihyon was going ballistic, shouting and attempting to attack the _something._ And then, the strangest thing happened. I was drained of energy, felt like I was going to pass out or something, when I heard a voice.”

She paused, glancing at the ghost, and then back to the others. So far, they hadn’t seemed overly shocked by what she said. Tsurara just had to hope they would believe what she was about to tell them.

“This voice...It knew my name. In the beginning, I had thought I imagined it. It seemed unlikely that it wasn’t something I just imagined, so I didn’t say anything. Four more times I heard the same voice.”

_ Wait four?! You didn’t tell me that?! _

Tsurara took a beat to breathe and tried to secretly give the ghost a stern look because it was _so_ not the time.

“The first and second time, I only heard words, and it didn’t respond to me. The third time, I was actually able to speak. It was...The voice was upset, and I tried...I talked to them. They explained to me that they were a yokai, in a terrible position, trapped and had nowhere to go, like they were waiting to die. I...I thought that it was best that I give them a chance, that I help them, and I invited this yokai to come to our clan, told them that we would protect them, that _I_ would protect them.”

The other yokai in the room were still silent, respecting Tsurara’s wish to get through her story before they asked questions. But she could tell, had seen the split-second opening of mouths to say or ask something, before settling. The wrinkle in their brows, as they were either disagreeing with her actions or confused as by what she said.

“The fourth time...was not too long ago. After Kosoku was our prisoner, I waited in my room for any new information. That’s when...I met him. The yokai, the voice, the _person_ that I had spoken to before. He appeared before me, not as I had been expecting, but, for lack of better phrasing, _ghostly._ He was transparent, though he still had a humanoid form, and this is when he explained the truth.

“The truth is...that I have been speaking to the same being that the nurarihyon does. They are connected, and he was trying to get away from Kosoku, come to us even, but was caught. And _that’s_ why Kosoku and the nurarihyon were out today. _That’s_ why you were able to capture her. We have _him_ to thank, for getting her, and I know, this makes so very little sense, but he offered more. He offered to give us information, about the Hyaku Monogatari Clan, and to help us as he could, given his knowledge about Kosoku and the nurarihyon.”

She finished, and took in a deep breath as her chest ached. That last part, the most important, she barely got out with a hoarse voice and little air in her lungs. The room was quiet, save for Tsurara’s breathing as she tried to calm herself.

Rihan was taking it all in, thinking about what he wanted to ask, what needed to be clarified. He set down his pipe, as if silently gesturing his seriousness.

“Tsurara?” He began, pulling her attention. “Tsurara, how do you know you can trust this person?” Master Rihan asked seriously.

She took a glance at him, and looked back, answering honestly.

“Because he’s given me reason to. He broke the pos-possession the nurarihyon tried on me, he gave information and is willing to give even more, and he’s...he’s been kind to me, since I first spoke to him. Maybe we can’t trust him, but even then, we have to try, don’t we?” She was almost pleading. If this ghost could get them closer to finding and saving Young Master Rikuo, all the better, no matter the sacrifice.

“Now, how exactly does this work, do you need to wait for him to...become coherent or something, or can you call him?” Rihan was curious about this yokai, who was an enigma to all but Tsurara.

“Oh well...he’s actually been sitting here the whole time. Only I can see him…”Tsurara realised then that they’d really have to trust her. She hoped this worked.

The eyes of the other yokai in the room bugged out, completely shocked that the person they were talking about was right there the whole damn time!

“I see…” Rihan said apprehensively.

“And,” Tsurara began, looked to the ghost, and sat straight as she continued. “He...he explained that he could speak to you as well....” Rihan brightened, probably expecting that the ghost had just wanted to have things explained before he, who knows, ‘showed himself’? Sadly, it was much more complicated. “-by taking over my body!” She finished hurriedly. 

Ah, tense silence, how nobody missed you.

“He...is going to take...over you?” Rihan said. His face turned dark. “That’s not happening, if he thinks he can take control of you and we just won’t do-”

“It’s not like that! It’s not!” She assured. Of course, if any sane person heard about taking over someone it’d sound bad. “He just thought it’d be easier, that he could speak through me and talk directly to you!” 

Rihan thought over this. With everything he’d heard, what were the odds this was all a lie? Given that Kosoku was involved, Rihan wanted to say it was incredibly likely. But, given what was being suggested, they would probably be able to save Tsurara when-if-she was betrayed by this person.

“Tsurara, do you truly trust him?” He asked seriously.

She answered a second later. “I want to, Master Rihan, and so I’m going to.”

Rihan was silent at this. He picked up his pipe, and took a drag, letting the smoke out as he sighed, sitting up. He looked to Kubinashi, who gave Master Rihan a _look_ , and then stood. 

“Alright. We’ll give this ghost a shot. But if he so much as makes a suspicious expression, we’re tying him up till he ends the possession, understood?” Master Rihan looked pointedly at Tsurara, and then attempted a look at the space next to Tsurara, which he had caught on was filled by the ghost. He got close enough, glaring at his shoulder.

“Yes, Master Rihan.”

* * *

_ I guess...we’re ready then…_

“So, how does this work?” Tsurara asked him.

Everyone else, beside Tsurara, had left the room to check in on Kosoku and the situation of the mansion. So, he and Tsurara had about five minutes to figure out what to do.

Of course, you might think he knew how to do this, right? Very wrong, given that the body he usually took over was, at the beginning of everything, his own. His own body was predisposed to accept his spirit. 

But Tsurara’s? This was by far the strangest thing he’d tried to do, he’s pretty sure.

_ I’m...not entirely sure...my-the nurarihyon’s body is um...it usually doesn’t fight the fact that I can take over it, not that I can very often...the nurarihyon has to be very weak or tired for it to work…_

**** He had gotten used to referring to **him** as ‘the nurarihyon’. He caught on that the Nura clan was calling **him** that, and it seemed best not to correct them, or give an actual name. He really didn’t want to see them...when they found out...about _it_.

“Are you alright?” Tsurara asked him, breaking him away from his thoughts.

_ Of course! Okay, let’s um...here, take my hands…_

**** His hands were finally all there, and Tsurara took them. For a moment, he became conscious of the scars she must be able to feel on his palms, but overruled that thought given that he was still a ghost and she may be able to ‘touch’ his palms, but she couldn’t feel them. Hell, his hands weren’t really tangible. 

Whenever he used his power, he didn't need to touch things directly anyways, so...

_Just...be calm, um...I’m gonna try something…_

**** “Okay…”

He closed his eyes, and thought about what he usually did when he wanted to take over **him**. Which was usually just ‘I want my fuckin’ body back.’ 

Maybe that wasn’t the best thought process to do this with. Nonetheless, he tried to be calm, think about how the supernatural stuff feels. What does fear feel like? What does using his power feel like? What does talking to **him** feel like? 

He tried to imagine the connection between him and his counterpart. It was like a dark space, and a thread tinted in red floating about. The string, when he would pull it, would lead him to waking up, to feeling the world. The thread was warm, like a fire, and hard to grasp like a shadow, sneaky.

He tried to imagine this mindscape, and this time, he found a second thread. It was blue, and felt cold before he even got close to it. 

“Um...your hands, they-”

_ I’m sorry, Tsurara, but I’m so close, I can’t look now…_

**** He came closer and pulled on the blue thread. His hand felt frozen, but the thread came closer, and twirled around him, and it was as cold as he had been expecting, but it was stale, like he could just barely feel it. He _knew_ it was cold, but without a body, he’d be unable to really know. He took a breath, and grasped the thread, and everything grew colder.

His eyes had been closed, and he now opened them, seeing a floor beneath his legs, and white furisode sleeves dragging beneath his hands as they moved. 

Wait, _furisode_?

He raised his hands from the long sleeves, finding dainty, feminine hands, not his own scarred ones. He looked down his torso, feeling a thick scarf on his neck and seeing snowflake patterns along the furisode.

It worked! He... _was_ Tsurara, now.

“Tsurara, “ He started, but jumped a little at the sound of her voice. Dumb him, of course he heard her, he was speaking through her! “Um, can you hear me?” He wasn’t sure entirely what would happen to her, now that he was in control.

_ I’m...here…_

He turned around and saw Tsurara, she looked as she had just before, as her body now did, but transparent. She was looking at her hands and staring through her ghostly form.

This was the exact moment Rihan and the others came back in.

“Hey, Tsurara, are you sure about this? Maybe it’s not the best of ideas...I’m sure we can get through Kosoku with just a little more pushing.” Rihan said as he came in and returned to the dias. 

He looked bored, but the ghost knew better, and could see that he was tired and ready for actual progress. Kosoku wasn’t likely to let up on teasing or insult. She’d probably hit enough nerves for Rihan to take a break.

“You could push Kosoku off a literal cliff, and she’s not going to give you a millimeter of what you want.” He said. 

Rihan, Kubinashi, and Kejoro looked shocked, probably that ‘Tsurara’ had said such a thing.

“I-wha- _what?_ Tsurara, are you alright?” Rihan leaned forward and asked, very concerned.

_ Oh, Master, I am fine...not that you can hear me…_

He looked to Tsurara, before turning back to Rihan. He took a breath, which felt like breathing in cold air in winter, and smiled. 

“It..is an honor to meet you, Fa-Ri-Master Rihan. I am...not Tsurara, I’m the spirit. I...don’t have a name, but you can refer to me...as you wish.”

Rihan and the aides grew very tense. Kubinashi was no longer relaxed against the wall, standing tall and just short of glaring at him.

“The spirit, huh...so you know Kosoku well enough to say that she won’t break?” Rihan was definitely wary, rightly so, and his gaze looked cold. So far, Kejoro was the only one that didn’t seem ready to attack him, but she did have quite the strong glare.

“I’d say I know the thing that raised me well enough, yeah.” He said, and then covered his mouth. They didn’t need to know he was raised by her, they most definitely weren’t going to trust him _now!_ “I-I mean, um…” He struggled to correct himself, but it was too late.

“Raised by her, hmm? So she’s your mother?”

“I most certainly have a mother and it’s not that bitch!” He said, becoming furious at the notion that...that horrid woman could replace what he remembered of his mother.

“Oh...I’m...sorry?” Rihan appeared very confused, attempting to apologize though he wasn’t sure what to say.

“It’s...fine...anyways, yes, I was raised by Kosoku, but I promise you, I’d love to see justice serve her just like the Nura Clan. I can answer whatever questions you have.”

Rihan had a tense expression, before asking: “Do you know...if my son, Nura Rikuo, is alive? Or is Kosoku bluffing?” 

The yokai in the room stared at him, awaiting the answer they’ve waited years to know. What could he say to that? He couldn’t necessarily lie! 

“He...your son, who was kidnapped at five years?” He started with. Pretended he was thinking, when really he was tense and scared of the answer. “I...know that he’s not dead...but, I haven’t really... _seen_ him, in some time.”

Rihan was at first shocked and his eyes watered, but then his expression turned stormy. “The hell does that mean?! Is he alive or not? You said he wasn’t dead but then how would you know if you haven't seen him?! If you think you can lie to me and get in good with us so you can betray us-”

“I’m sorry! I worded that wrong! Please, let me try again!” He swallowed. “R-Rikuo is alive, he’s breathing, his heart beats, he’s alive! But um...since I left the HQ, I haven’t seen him...obviously, since I’m not there…”

Then Rihan’s tears did fall. He looked down, Kubinashi and Kejoro came over, both hugging him as he cried. Kejoro and Kubinashi were barely holding it together.

_ Young Master...he’s…_

He turned to Tsurara, and saw transparent tears coming down her face. She brought her hands up, covering her mouth as more tears fell.

Of course, he wasn’t totally lying...this home, full of yokai, they awaited they’re Young Master, and if they could just wait till they removed Kosoku, then they could have **him** …

They...he wasn’t a yokai...they needn’t worry about him...they needn’t know who he was, _here_ , _before them_. He was...not what they wanted.

“Thank you.” Rihan said, wiping his face. Kubinashi and Kejoro let him go, but they stayed near, watching.

“It...was the least I could do.” He looked down, not sure what to say. “Is there...anything else?” That couldn’t be the only question. He had years of information on the Hyaku Monogatari Clan, on Kosoku, surely they would start asking about that, right?

“What can you tell us about Kosoku? About the nurarihyon? We still haven’t gotten any closer to understanding what’s going on or how to separate the two of them.”

The ghost looked down, not sure how much to say. “Well, I can’t say that there’s really any notch to jab at that would make Kosoku separate. I think...it'd be easier than you might think for her to retain control over the nurarihyon in that state, given...the past few days.”

“What do you mean by ‘these past few days’?” Kubinashi asked.

“Kosoku...isn’t exactly a nurturing or caring creature. She deals with insubordination with force until there isn’t any. If she can’t hammer a nail in, she's going to hit it until it does what she wants, regardless of just moving on or something. A couple days ago...Tsurara was almost corrupted by the nurarihyon. When he came back after failing to do this, he was...re-instructed.”

“What does ‘re-instructed’ entail? Chores? Laps around the compound? The bottom of the bucket duties?” Rihan asked like Kosoku was any sane teacher.

“Um...abu-er....force?” He didn’t want to scare them with what Kosoku does. “Anyways, at the end of reinstruction, the nurarihyon is always more docile, or at the very least, much less insolent. He listens to her very clearly. And that is where the nurarihyon is at now. Even if Kosoku separated from him, he’d still listen to her every order. You have...little chance of getting him to wake up and fight her off.” He finished.

It was the truth. Right now, **he** was...too scared to do anything against her. Turning on **his** captor? Incredibly unlikely.

“Do you think,” Rihan started, getting his attention. “That you’d be able to do something? Say something to make her forget holding the connection and separate?” 

It wasn’t a bad idea. Though, the ghost wasn’t really sure he could say anything worth their time. 

“I mean, I could match her sass, if that’s what you’re asking.” He replied with a smile.

Rihan smiled back and chuckled a little bit. “It’s better than nothing, I guess. Would you? Be willing to talk to her?” He asked.

The ghost wasn’t sure about the good it’d do, but he answered honestly, “I can try.”

Nura Rihan mulled over that answer. He looked to his aides, silently asking for their opinions.

“Where is Yuki-Onna, at this time?” Kejoro suddenly asked him.

He glanced back at her, where she sat on his right, and turned back. “She is to my right, kneeling next to me. She’s, more or less, in the same predicament as I was just a little bit ago. She can hear and see you, but you won’t be able to hear or see her.”

_Will you let them know...tell them I’m alright?_

**** “Of course. Tsurara wants you to know that she's fine.” He said for her.

Kejoro nodded but said nothing. Rihan and Kubinashi were whispering to each other, and when he answered, Kubinashi glanced at him before turning back to Rihan with an exasperated expression.

“Fine! Do as you will, Master.” He said, returning to his position on the wall, silently grumbling.

“Aww, Kubinashi, don’t you know I only take that as a challenge?” Rihan chuckled and grinned. “Alright, Ghost, what can you tell us about the Hyaku Monogatari’s plans right now?”

And so he answered. It seems he’s being tested, to see how forthcoming he is or maybe just asking questions Rihan truly wants to know. By the time he had answered most of them, Rihan began replying slower and slower, as if he was running out of new inquiries.

“Encho is one of the seven executives of the Hyaku Monogatari Clan, and he acts as their leader. He is Sanmoto’s mouth.”

“I see…” Rihan was quiet as he thought. “Well, I think for now, I haven't got anymore, though I’m sure I’ll be able to ask later when I think of some, yes?” He said with a kind smile.

“Of course, there should be no problem with that.”

“Good. Well, Kubinashi, are you satisfied?” All eyes in the room turned to the floating head, as his face morphed into one of betrayal.

“Master! You can’t seriously be thinking he was trustworthy after so few questions, even if Yuki-Onna has pledged his honor! It was necessary and-” 

“I know, I know, Kubianshi. No worries, it was a joke!” Rihan chuckled again. “Alright, I suppose we’re ready to see Kosoku?” He looked back at the ghost.

“Ah, yes, that’s fine.” He stuttered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS: BASICALLY, THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS CONTAIN ALL OF THE BAD TAGS, SO BE CAREFUL

The ghost was more tense than he let on. Tsurara’s extremely cold body was probably helping, but he hoped they wouldn’t notice. The sooner they could get this over with, the sooner...he could be free of her.

He prayed this went well.

Nura Rihan took him and his remaining aides back to the room they were keeping Kosoku in. Upon stepping in, he could see the anger on Ao- _Aotabo, he's not familiar with them-_ and Kurotabo’s face as they left, now given a break to cool down. Kosoku stopped talking then, and grinned at Rihan.

“Aww, nobody told me Rihan-chan was coming back! How fun!” She grinned, and he’d never been more freaked out by an expression on **his** face. The fannatical smile, with too wide a mouth and crazed glowing eyes. He glanced away, looking around the room. 

It looked much the same as the other room he’d seen, though this one had a wooden cell. Could he call it a dungeon? It was kind of a dungeon, which was a funny thought. Dungeon’s were usually underground, or hidden away. The Nura had one in the dead center of the mansion, where you could mistake it for any room until it was entered. 

“Hello, Kosoku, ready to give up?” Rihan replied.

“Aww, Rihan-chan doesn’t wanna play with me, huh? Now you’re gonna make me cry!” She pretended to wipe tears from her dry eyes. The pout looked false, like she hadn’t figured out how to move **his** facial muscles correctly.

“Oh no, poor poor Kosoku. Whatever will she do? Drink away her sorrows? Hit children? Complain about ‘oh, Encho-sama! Why can’t he just see how much better than everyone else I am?’ “ He said, and poor Tsurara’s voice made it sound ten times better than his own ever could.

Kosoku’s expression turned furious. “ _How dare-_ you're just some lowly yuki-onna, how dare you say such things!” 

After that, the Nura yokai started laughing, making Kosku even angrier.

“Wow, kid, you weren’t lying, you’ve definitely got sass.” Rihan grinned at him, patting him on the shoulder. 

“Hold on,” Kubinashi suddenly interjected. “Did you say ‘hit children’?” 

He paused, realising he did actually say so. He winced.

“Um...I think we should move on, anyways-” He tried to change the subject, coming forward and kneeling on the floor in front of the cell. “Hello, Kosoku, horrible to see you again.”

Kubinashi apparently gave up asking since he didn’t say anything. Kosoku sneered, still in the dark that this wasn’t Tsurara talking to her.

“ _You._ You’re the damn yuki-onna that made all of this happen. If I remember correctly, you were Nura Rikuo-chan’s attendant?” She smirked. “How useful you were. And how is your young master?” 

Tsurara, who sat to his right, had a sad expression on her face, as if reliving a bad memory. He leaned over and placed his hand atop hers.

“It’s okay.” He whispered. When he turned back, Kosoku looked confused, but he didn’t care enough to explain the entirety of what was going on. “Kosoku, I am not, in fact, the yuki-onna ‘Tsurara’. She has allowed me control over her body so that I may speak with the Nura Clan, and interrogate you. You may know me as ‘The Ghost’.” He finished.

Kosoku’s face did many things, and finally she seemed to settle on anger. 

“What the hell? You’ve _got_ to be joking? What, they listen to your sob story and suddenly you’re one of them? It’s not like you’ve done anything to stop Sakura-chan or-” Her face lit up, like something dawned on her. “They don’t know, do they? You didn’t tell them, did you? Oh that’s precious.” She pulled a mocking expression.

“Ghost, what is she talking about?” Rihan questioned from behind him.

“It’s nothing important.” He replied, trying to change the topic. “Kosoku, how about you leave his body? Aren’t you too confined, staying in there?” 

“Well, for one, they can’t hurt me within this body. _You know why._ ” She chuckled, the hoarse, ugly laugh echoing in the otherwise quiet room. “And for another, I’m stopping you from being effective, aren’t I? If you’ve been resorted to asking someone else for a body, how much of a shock do you need to dissipate? Whatever connection you have should be flimsy, if it lasts.”

“What exactly is holding you to the body?” Rihan interrupted. “Is it true, that he’s half human? Or is this some other ability?”

Kosoku’s eyes glittered with mischief. She looked excited.

“Oh poor, sweet Rihan-chan, so close yet so far~” She looked back at the ghost. “You _really_ haven't told them anything. How can they trust you? Have you made false promises?” She closed her eyes, waggling her index finger at him. “Tsk, tsk, what uselessness. So distrustful. Of course, how could you be blamed, I’m sure if you told them the truth, about **him** _,_ about you, they’d be upset. They’d _hate_ you, don’t you know that?”

“Master Rihan, may I speak with Kosoku alone, for just a moment?” He suddenly asked. They _really_ didn’t need to hear this.

He could tell, by just how long it took to get a reply, that the Nura’s definitely didn’t trust him that much. He could hardly blame them. What _has_ he done to help them?

“Two minutes.” Rihan said, and left with Kubinashi and Kejoro.

He looked to his side at Tsurara.

“Could you give me a minute? I’m sorry, I-”

_ It’s okay...um...yeah..._

**** She left, and he looked back at Kosoku.

“Don’t you see? After you’ve given them what they want, they’ll leave you. And where will you be then? You can rot, trapped within the fractured mind of a yokai, unable to talk with anyone else, or you can become even more. Help me get out of here. And I can free you from your intangibility.” She smiled, and that cemented her lies.

“You don’t give a shit about me, or even about _him_. You just want to look good for Encho. Free me? Help me? Exactly when have you shone me anything but hate? You don’t have a fucking heart and you can’t make me believe that you do! All you’ve ever done is torture me!”

The glowing eyes on the nurarihyon body dimmed just a little, the white pupil shrinking just a bit, as if **he** was becoming conscious. Kosoku then glared, staring at nothing, and the eyes returned back to their previous state.

_ Is he...can he hear me?_

“If you can’t even control your own body, how useless of an existence do you plan to live?” Kosoku suddenly brought up. “If, by some chance, you’re still alive when the Nura Clan is taken care of and all of these yokai are dead, what are you going to be? A ghost that not only didn’t help his clan, but one that was the direct cause for said clan’s _, his family’s,_ death. Where will you be then?” She taunted.

“Shut up.”

“You don’t even have a plan here, do you? You think that you can just bullshit your way through this, somehow stumble on how to make me leave, and then continue on? You think _he’s_ gonna let you have your body back, that he’s just gonna follow along and become a yokai of the Nura Clan? How dumb can you get, brat?” She was laughing at him.

She wasn’t wrong though. What was his plan here? What could he do?

“I’ll just expose you then.” He said, not even sure what he meant. 

And by the looks of it, Kosoku easily saw through his bluff. “And what are you gonna do? Expose me for torturing their Young Master? It should be obvious what I’ve done! Tell them who **he** is? Good luck with that, they’ll just blame you, asking why you didn’t tell them sooner. Why didn’t you stop **him** ? Why were you so useless? Why aren’t you like them, why are you so weak when **he’s** so strong? Compared to **him** , what can _you_ do?” Kosoku took on a pitying tone, like she was looking at a cockroach. “Such weakness, as to be expected of a human. But, are you human? Can a human do what you can? Can a yokai? If you’re not a human, and you’re not a yokai, what are you?”

“SHUT UP!” He yelled back, rising to his feet, furious at her. “I AM SOMETHING, I’M-

“What is going on in here?!” Nura Rihan suddenly burst in.

“I’m just telling the truth here, and he can’t handle it.” Kosoku grinned from her spot on the floor, as if she was the highest person in the room.

Rihan came into the room, followed by Kubinashi, Kejoro, and even Aotabo and Kurotabo. It seemed Rihan had filled them in because they didn’t question why ‘Tsurara’ was so out of character. Speaking of Tsurara, she came in after the others did. He was trying to calm down after his outburst, and Tsurara tried to ask if he was okay but he just brushed her off. Or maybe he should have assured her he was fine? Damn Kosoku was messing with his head! 

“Sorry, Tsurara, I’m fine.”

She definitely didn’t believe him.

“Dumb brat, haven’t you learned the lesson about dishonesty by now?” Kosoku butted in, like she wasn’t a mass of abuse and lies all rolled into one horrid creature.

“What lesson? ‘Lie to me and I'll nail you to a chair? Stutter when you speak and I'll seal your mouth shut for days? Make a mistake and I’ll break your spine?” He sprung back at her, not consciously thinking about the fact that he said that stuff in front of the Nuras.

_ What? _

He looked back at Tsurara, just realising what he said.

“I...um…” He was speechless, couldn’t think of a way to get out of this.

“All of that? That was training, you were only too weak-”

“Shut up! I told you to shut up!” He shouted back

“Okay, that's enough. We’re done here. You need to calm down, and we need to talk.” Rihan came forward, ready to drag the ghost out of there if need be.

“So Rihan-chan is just going to leave? Like that? And what about your son? Don’t you want to know about him?” Kosoku’s eyes twinkled, finding amusement in the turmoil of others.

“I already know he’s alive. And I won’t believe any of your lies. We’ll come back later.”

“Oh he’s not just alive, Rihan-chan.”

All the yokai in the room paused, and the ghost shrunk inwards, wincing before she even explained. What was she going to expose? Who he was? How he lied to them? Could they even consider Nura Rikuo’s current existence ‘alive’?

“He’s right here.” She smiled.

Rihan stepped back, an apprehensive look on his face. “What...What does that mean? What do you mean?” He asked out of breath, like he couldn’t pull enough air into his lungs. He turned away from the door and faced her, coming closer to the cell.

“Master Rihan, please, she’s baiting you.” The ghost interjected, trying to pull Rihan away from the cell. “She lies, you can’t trust her!”

“And they can trust you? Rihan-chan, don’t tell me you’re so oblivious.” She laughed at their stunned faces. “A nurarihyon? Who has a similar ability to the coveted Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan? Is **he** really just a random yokai?” She smirked. “You’d think a parent could recognize their own child, although, I guess you’re not much of a parent, are you?”

Rihan dropped to his knees, as gasps sounded around the room.

“R-Rikuo?” He said in a horrified, stunned tone.

“No worries, Rihan-chan. **He** can’t hear you. And even if **he** could, **he** hasn’t a clue you’re anything but **his** enemy. _I_ made sure of that.”

Kubinashi ended up having to tear Rihan from the room before he opened the cell, and just like this, everyone who had been in the room was gutted at the newly unveiled information. 

* * *

“You knew, didn’t you?”

“Huh?” The ghost was startled from his thoughts.

The main attendants, Rihan, Tsurara, and the ghost had stepped out to cool down in the room from earlier. He hadn’t switched back with Tsurara, but she didn’t mention it so he assumed it wasn’t a big deal right now. There was a tense quiet, no one really sure what to say, that is, until Rihan’s question.

“You knew, that the nu-that **_he_** was Rikuo, my _son_. You knew that, didn’t you?” He asked. Rihan had also gone and found Wakana and Nurarihyon, telling both about Rikuo. Nurarihyon was quiet, almost glaring at the floor. Wakana leaned on Rihan’s side, too busy sobbing to say or do much of anything

He tried not to stare, honestly, but it was _Wakana._ His-she was-...yeah.

“I...can’t deny that I knew.” He said, looking anywhere but at Rihan, lest he start staring again. 

“Why didn’t you tell us? Why be so quiet about it?” These were valid questions, ones he really couldn’t answer too openly without spilling even more.

“I didn't know how best to go about it. **He’s** ...I’m sorry to say, **he’s** not exactly... _there_ . I...I’m sure you...remember how **he** was when you confronted **him** . **He’s** not...sane…” He finished in a small voice. He didn’t want to hurt the Nura’s anymore.

“So it’s better we just never know?” Rihan asked, eyes narrowed at him.

“I would have told you! I just...I wasn’t sure if I should really say...who **he** is, currently, given... **his** actions…” He took a breath in. “ **He** doesn’t know any better. **He’s** only been exposed to the Hyaku Monogatari Clan and their ways. I-I didn’t want you to blame **him** , for what **he’s** done, when **he** _doesn’t know_ . It’s not fair to **him**.”

Rihan scoffed and looked away.

“ _My son._ How could I blame him for anything when I failed to protect him?” He replied self-pityingly.

The ghost sat up, ready to deny the idea. “No! No, that’s not true! **He** -It’s not your fault! No-nothing could have been done...I...I know, from first hand experience, just how Kosoku’s binding works. When she invokes her fear, they can paralyze anyone that comes into contact with them. Even if...even if you hadn’t lost sight of m- _Rikuo,_ She would have been able to capture **him** and restrain you. Easily.”

“How do you know what happened that day?” Kubinashi, who was leaning against the wall being comforted by Kejoro, stood up and questioned. “How do you know that we lost sight of Young Master Rikuo?” 

Everyone else in the room was suddenly looking at him, and he could easily see the distrust. Which _was_ justified. How would he, a seemingly outside individual, know what happened?

“I...I can’t answer that…” He looked down. What could he do? He...he couldn't just... _tell_ them, right? That would only make everything worse!

“Of course.” Kubinashi scoffed. He turned to Rihan next. “Master, I don’t think we can trust this person anymore. Is it worth sacrificing Yuki-Onna’s body just so we can speak to a spirit unwilling to tell us anything?”

Rihan didn’t reply, likely mulling over the same fact.

But how could he make himself more trustworthy? Tell them the truth? No way! They’d...they’d be just like Kosoku always told him...preferring the yokai, preferring **him.** It was only natural, in a home dominated by ayakashi. And even if it wasn’t true, if they didn’t care for either part more...what would they say to him? They would only blame themselves...just as Fa- _Rihan, Master Rihan_ -already does.

Isn’t it better then? That they believe their son whole, while in need of morals, and not split between sanity and death? Memories only burden the soul, and with no previous foundation, surely they could nurture **him** better. Surely, with a home of ayakashi, they would already know how to help another yokai. A human? There was a single human in the building, she would be bombarded and plagued by the fact that she isn’t an expert of her kind.

So what could he do? Truth was _not_ an option. But if he let go now, what would happen? Would he be reduced to the yokai’s side? To _Kosoku’s_? Or even Tsurara’s?

“Wait, please, I just…” He was grasping for straws, trying to think of some vein of thought that might help him. “I don’t know how to explain this…” He continued, having a vague idea of where he could take this. Would it work though?

“Explain what?” Rihan asked harshly, obviously caring little about being courteous anymore.

“You...are aware I am able to take over...Rikuo’s body, yes?” He said,

Rihan glanced at the others in the room, wary, before looking back to him expectantly.

“I’ve...seen memories...of Rikuo’s, not exactly something that sounds good. I’m sorry, I want you to trust me, but I realise that everything I say is suspicious, and you have every right to think me suspicious.” 

Rihan watched him, and he glanced at his wife, Wakana, who had stopped sobbing so hard. Tears still fell from her eyes, and she sniffled, but as he spoke, she stared at him the same as the other yokai.

“You…” Wakana sat up a little, and called to him. “You’ve seen...Rikuo’s memories?” She asked for assurance. Her gentle, brown eyes were wide, and she had an unsure expression on her face. 

He nodded, curious where she was going with this. Did she think it was as strange as it was? Or did she somehow think it was weird that the other yokai thought it was weird? She was human, after all, how knowledgeable about yokai norms would she be?

“Did he...was he happy? Before we...before?” She asked finally. Rihan looked between them, and then stared at him, awaiting his answer.

And oh, how that question _hurt._ He felt like a child, who wanted to run to his mother and cry in her arms the rest of the day. His throat felt sore and he saw his vision go a little blurry before he averted his eyes to the floor.

He nodded, trying not to sob. “Yeah...h-he was...very happy. He m-missed...you all…” He couldn’t look at them. If he looked at any of them, if he looked back at Wakana now that he heard more crying from her direction, he’d burst.

“ _Thank you.”_ She whispered and said no more.

What could he even say to that?

“Ghost.” Rihan called. 

“Yes, Master Rihan?” He said after clearing his throat. He didn’t cry, which he would take as a win.

“I want you to be honest. Completely honest. If you can’t even do that, how am I supposed to trust you to have control of Tsurara’s body? How am I supposed to trust you to be anywhere near Kosoku?” He started seriously. “I get that Kosoku knows more about you, knows what pressure points to hit and what to say, but if she can unhinge you enough to not cooperate? Make you lose your cool and just start yelling for the sake of justification? What’s the point of me allowing you in there if that’s all you amount to?”

Well, damn, didn’t that hit _hard_?

And even more, he hated what his mind immediately jumped to. At the questioning of his use, his thoughts wanted to spiral into everything Kosoku had ever taught him, had tortured into him. 

_ See? Even Rihan-chan can see your inability..._

_ No, shut it, Stop thinking, just stop thinking_

_ You think it's that easy? I am here, I will always be here, to remind you of what you can't admit to yourself. You should be honest. Although, Rihan-chan's not going to be happy when he hears the truth...he'll be furious. You couldn't even keep it together. How use- _

_ No! Stop it!_

He pinched the skin around his wrist to pull him from his thoughts, before realising he was still in Tsurara’s body. He’d have to hope it didn’t leave a mark.

“Whatever you need, Master Rihan. I want to help, I want Kosoku to get the justice she deserves.”

“Can you answer some questions about Rikuo’s...abilities? I’m curious about what I’ve seen.” Rihan asked.

“Yes, I should be able to answer most things.”

“How exactly does he take over other Yokai’s minds? Like what he almost did to Tsurara? I had assumed it was like my _matoi_ ability, but I don’t understand it.”

“It’s actually not about **his** human blood. It’s about **his** fear. Fear is a yokai’s offense and defense. The ‘defensive’ form of a nurarihyon’s fear is about illusioning the body and disappearing. The ‘offensive’ form is possessing. **He** started out infusing his fear into swords, to make them stronger, and he’s trained his fear to possess other people. It’s the same concept, just infusing another object with fear. In a way, it’s the opposite of your _matoi_ , as you allow other yokai to possess you, whereas he possesses other yokai.”

“Even though he’s ¾ human?” Kubinashi interjected.

“Yes, in all truth, it makes his fear different. A yokai can’t protect or defend themself from fear that's not entirely yokai. It’s like being on a different sound pitch.”

Kubinashi looked away, seeming thoughtful.

“I see…” Rihan looked thoughtful, then glanced down at his hands. His eyes narrowed as he gazed down, before he raised his head again. “Does he...has he ever demonstrated...a healing ability?” He asked next.

The ghost frowned. A healing ability?

“I’m sorry...I’ve never heard of a healing ability of nurarihyons...is it rare?” He asked, wondering what Rihan meant. Maybe it was more of a metaphor? Or he could’ve misunderstood the question? That seemed unlikely…

“It’s…” Rihan looked unsure, his face pulled into a grimace as he looked away. “Do you know of my mother?” He settled on.

“She was a human that Nurarihyon fancied and he stole her away from her family and had a half-yokai son with her. That’s about all I know.” He answered, confused and intrigued at where his-where Nura Rihan’s mother fit into this.

“My mother...was a woman from a rich family who had been born with an inhuman ability to heal. This ability...was passed down to me. I wanted to know...if Rikuo had it.” Rihan explained.

_ A healing ability..._

The ghost looked away, staring off as he realized that...the strange glow of his hands and warmth were a _healing ability._ Of course, he knew that when he activated such a thing that he would heal his body or whatever he was touching but...he hadn’t known it didn’t just spring up from nowhere...and even further, this was something he _inherited_. 

After all the years of Kosoku telling him he wasn’t human or a yokai, while this couldn’t really scratch the surface of those feelings, it made him feel a little bit better...that maybe, if his gra-if _she_ was a human with unnatural abilities...he wasn’t so strange himself. As he contemplated this, Rihan kept trying to get his attention, which he realised after a few minutes and he shook himself from his thoughts.

“He hasn’t...demonstrated a healing ability. I suppose...it’s possible that he just needs to be taught it...but I certainly haven't seen him do anything.”

Rihan looked a little dejected as he looked down.

“Ghost…” Rihan looked him in the eyes and said. “Why do you want to do this?”

He didn’t understand. “Do..what?”

“What do you get out of making Kosoku leave Rikuo’s body? I get that you watch over him, or something like that, but i’ve...heard the way he talked to you. Why do you want to free him?”

He hadn’t expected Rihan to remember that **he** didn’t treat him well. He supposed...he had expected to just haunt **him** for the rest of time after they got Kosoku out of there. What else could he actually hope for? It would certainly take more years than Rihan might think for **him** to allow cohabitation, and that’s not even counting getting **him** to understand and accept that **he’s** a Nura, the ghost isn’t really a ghost, and that the Hyaku Monogatari clan/Kosoku are actually **his** enemy.

“I...honestly, Master Rihan?” He asked, realising something else as he stared at Tsurara’s hands. Rihan gestured for him to continue. “I don’t even know how long I’ll be here.” He said slowly, thinking about it.

“What do you mean?” 

“Right now I'm fine, I’m temporarily okay since I've taken over another vessel, but after this? I have no idea when my spirit will dissipate, or how vulnerable to such a thing I am. It’s possible that when I leave Tsurara’s body, my spirit may not be able to take the pressure and I might not make it. That’s not to say that I don’t want to give Tsurara her body back or that I won’t, I'm just being honest here. If she even tried to let me stay possessing her for longer than what we need, I promise I’ll leave the vessel myself.” 

“I see...though that still doesn’t mean you can’t plan ahead. What if you do survive leaving her body? What will you do then? You can’t just not think ahead because you're worried you’ll never get there. What if you do?”

He didn’t have an answer for that.

“Master Rihan,” he drew his attention back to the man in question. “I want Kosoku to leave me alone. I want her to forget I ever existed. I want _freedom_. And if I can help...free your son at the same time...all the better. I’d like to help you. That’s what I’m going to focus on for now.”

Rihan nodded, looking at Kubinashi silently and then around the room at the others.

“Alright then.” He said, standing up. He came over, standing before Tsurara’s body, and held out a hand. “Then let’s go get some justice. And free my son.” He smiled.

The ghost looked from Rihan’s face to the hand. Slowly, he took it, and stood up, following behind Rihans as they headed for Kosoku one again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter to go guys! 
> 
> It's possible that I might not update next week, unknown till then
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end, guys, we're finally here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This baby *slaps chapter eight* can fit _so_ much angst into it. TRIGGER WARNINGS: legit everything. If it's tagged, it's here.
> 
> Guys I'm actually really happy with how this came out. Finally I can put this up and stop having it yell at me every time i come to read fanfiction. 
> 
> This chapter is definitely the longest and I decided that was okay. None of the sections work on their own anyways, so it's just gonna be a nice big-ass chapter. I say this as if I wrote a novel for a single chapter (i didn't, it's like 2 pages longer than my previous longest chapter). 
> 
> I hope this is enjoyable, thank you everyone for your support and patience. ;)

“Come back so soon? How _lovely_ it is to see you all again.” Kosoku said when they entered the room. She stretched **his** face into a grin, making **him** look creepy as hell.

Rihan, the aides, and the ghost entered the room, all apprehensive as they looked at ‘Kosoku’. The nurarihyon was their focus, as they stared, cataloguing that _this_ was their long lost young master. 

“Kosoku.” Rihan said, struggling to look her in the eye. Seeing _his son_ in this light, just the appearance of **his** eyes, how Kosoku’s white pupils were overtaking the red irises, was painful.

“You all look _dreadful_. It’s so much fun to see the pain in your faces.” She smirked. 

Rihan had said he could start again, so the ghost took his place in the only chair across the cell. He met Kosoku’s eyes, narrowing them as he looked at her. He could feel, even a couple feet away from her, that she was expending the fear of **his** body. She wouldn’t be able to hang on forever, which gave him hope. 

“Master Rihan, her grasp on his body is stretching. She won’t be able to stay connected for...I’d say longer than a day, maybe even a couple hours.”

Kosoku didn’t like that. She kept that gross smile but her brows and eyes crinkled in annoyance. “I see you’re still possessing that yuki-onna. Having fun, are you? Now that you’re here, in the Nura Clan’s presence? I’m sure your demented, child heart is in tears.” 

He sighed. There wasn’t a point in answering her about this. It’d only create more confusion for the others.

“Rikuo,” He started, and wow, that felt weird saying aloud. “If you can hear me, you need to separate from Kosoku. She’s...leeching off of your fear and your spirit. The longer you allow her to control you, the more time it will take for you to regain your strength.”

It was a long shot. He hoped that, maybe, if he could convince **him** it’d be in **his** best interest to take control of **his** body again and spit Kosoku out like a dog toy, then **he** would. Being weak was a pressure point for **him** . **He** hated being vulnerable or weaker than someone else. 

“You’re still so stupid. Even if **he** could hear you, **he** wouldn’t listen to you. You know _exactly_ what you are to **him**.” Kosoku said. ”You are one and the same, and no matter how much you believe you’ve accepted that, you haven't.”

“No, I know who I am, and I know who **he** is-”

“Except that you don’t. If you had accepted it, you wouldn’t be referring to **him** as another.” She looked away, her eyes circling the room. “And by the looks of it, either your companions haven’t accepted it either, or you’ve been dishonest again.”

At this, he could see Rihan turn to him, a difficult expression on his face.

“Ghost. What is your relationship to Rikuo? How are you connected?” He asked, voice tense.

“It’s not important. I’ll tell you once we’ve removed Kosoku. It isn’t anything that’s going to be a problem, I promise. She’s like this, she likes to bring up facts and confuse you on their importance.”

“Still lying? I’d have thought you’d have learned by now Rihan-chan, to stop trusting this creature. Why, after everything I’ve said and done, has he not told you what- _who_ -he is? I didn’t expect the Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan to be so naive.”

“Ghost, how can I trust that you’re being honest? That by not explaining her statements, it’s in our best interest?” Rihan asked.

“It’s nothing important, honest. She’s just trying to pull us apart. It’s fake, anyways. Like I said before, she twists basic facts until you’re confused and vulnerable.” He replied.

“Nothing important? I’m not sure Rihan-chan would agree. After all, didn’t you see his reaction to what I said earlier? He’ll feel even worse while you continue to lie.” Kosoku said, before she looked directly at him, trying to discern his thoughts. “Unless...oh, my, now _this_ is _hilarious_.” She started laughing, and the sound was echoing in his ears, reminding him of all the other times he’s heard it, the way it echoed in the playroom, as she-

He shook his head, no, don’t think about it. She’s just taunting. _Don’t think about it_.

“Ghost? Explain, _now_.” Rihan wasn’t trusting him anymore. And now, he had a room of yokai against him. Ah, just like old times, when Kosoku decided they needed an audience for her instruction. He was the demonstration. He could listen. He’ll be good. _I’ll be good, Hakase._

There was a hand on his shoulder, grabbing him, surely continuing with the lesson. Angry even that he wasn’t paying attention. No, _I’m listening, I don’t need more, I promise, Hakase!_ The hand gripped harder, and there was a muffled noise by his ear. Sit up straight, do not speak, and _be good._ _You wanna be good, don’t you?_ _Of course I do, Hakase!_

“GHOST!” Rihan shouted in his ear, finally pulling his attention back to the room. He was in the Nura home. He was inhabiting Tsurara’s body. He was...he _wasn’t_ in the playroom.

He’d fallen back in again.

“I’m sorry, Master Rihan. I was lost in thought.” He took a deep breath in. “She’s just...trying to get under your skin. There’s really nothing else, she doesn’t want you to trust me.”

Rihan didn’t look convinced. The room of yokai would do whatever their master instructed as they awaited his verdict. Before he could give one, Kosoku sighed dramatically from within the cell.

“Now, now, I don’t think I taught you to be this dishonest, brat. How annoying.” She looked overly disappointed, sighing into her palm and lacing her words with an overwhelming amount of pity. “You really are a child. So uneducated as well, although, maybe you are showing promise, if you remember the truth. The truth I taught you. I’m so glad you’ve finally accepted it. Shame it only came up now. If only you could have grasped the other things I taught you. How disappointing.”

“Well, you _were_ my teacher. The dysfunctions of a student also lie on the teacher, no?” He shot back.

She barely blinked at the jab. “Me? Your teacher? Maybe when you were a child. I haven't taught you in years. My time has been devoted to the one with _actual_ promise. **He** has, after all, been very promising. Very compliant.”

“Hold on, what is going on?” Rihan stood by the ghost’s right, two steps closer to the cell than the ghost was. He was looking back and forth between him and Kosoku, confused. “Wha-what do you mean ‘the truth’? What is going on here?!”

“Yes, _ghost_ , what is the truth? What _are_ you? What _is_ your existence?” Kosoku taunted back.

_ It’s nothing. I’m human. I’m alive. I’m human and I’m alive- _

_ But are you? Are you alive? What **is** living? What is human? _

_ I-I am, I’m a human-I’m alive, I am! I’m...I’m...I am...I...what...am I? _

_ You’re nothing. Come back, let’s **play**. You like to play, don’t you? _

_ No! I’m...something...I was something...right? Aren’t I...something? _

_ You are **not** something. You have never **been** something. You will never **be** something. _

_ That’s not-that isn’t tr-true! I’m- _

**_ NOTHING_ **

“NO! I’M SOMETHING! I’M-” 

“Nura Rikuo?” Kosoku interjected with a mischievous grin.

“What?” He breathed, trying to pull in air. Trying to calm down from his outburst. 

“What did you say?” Rihan asked, a shaky tint to his voice. He looked back and forth between the ghost and Kosoku, his face growing paler by the second.

“I’m sure you heard me, Rihan-chan.” She grinned manically.

“Rikuo?” Rihan said reverently, looking at the vessel the ghost dwelled in with watery eyes. “I-I don’t-I don’t understand, what?”

“She lies. It’s nothing, Master Rihan, it’s false.”

“Is it now?” Kosoku laughed at him again. “Do you really cling to hope that you can lay quietly? That you and **he** aren’t the same? They already know about him, are you truly as psychotic as I always thought?” She questioned with what looked like disbelief. 

“ _Psy_ -what? _What_ is going _on_ here?” Rihan shouted at her.

“Way back when, eight years ago, I stole a child.”

“Don’t-” Rihan and the ghost interjected at the same time.

Kosoku carried on. “He was the son of Nura Rihan, who was a thorn in our side. When we took this child, we planned to have fun, to make sure he felt our anger at the Nura Clan’s success. As time passed, we decided to see if he had any use.”

She continued to explain the horrors of his childhood to the others. She talked about how they threw him into trial after trial, challenges, and fights with other yokai. All for the effort to make him awaken the same abilities as Nura Rihan or even Nurarihyon, so that they could use those against the Nura Clan. Her face, **_his_** face, was fanatical as she went into detailed explanations of his pain. Suffocating him with her ropes for hours. Having the members of the Hyaku Monogatari clan, who felt bored or owed Kosoku a favor, attack him at full strength. Tying him to a chair and dangling it over a bottomless pit (at least, it _looked_ bottomless, could have been an illusion for all he knew, he was a kid after all).

And then, she got to _that day._ The day everything really started, and he lost what little control over his own identity he had had. **He** was born. The ghost can hardly remember what happened, how exactly it happened. The memory is hazy, but he can recollect a few things. 

He had been terrified out of his mind, debased down to just cowering from his attackers (he can’t remember what they looked like, but he knew his subconsciousness still knew _them_ , given the many times they’d pass someone in the hall and he’d suddenly be stricken with irrational fear and would immediately dissipate for a few days) and then someone, possibly a man? The voice was deep and it haunted him sometimes too, catching him unaware at times as he suddenly hears it. _“Humans are lesser than yokai, and yet, you’re even lesser than one of them. Dying here, now, is your only solace.”_

As a child, he had barely understood what this person had just told him, and yet he was full of indignation. He remembers feeling hot, like the room had been bathed in hell. His eyesight was becoming blurry, and his stomach roiled. He thought, _“It’s so hot...feels like...I'm burning, I'm on fire, my blood is...boiling.”_ Just before everything went black, he remembers seeing a sort of mist around him, though it could have been a delirious hallucination, and he was out.

He woke _days_ later, opened his eyes to Kosoku’s playroom, and just about died on the spot at the fury in her eyes. He barely knew what he did wrong this time and he was beaten bloody and hid for days. It showed just how furious she was that she didn’t come to look for him, not even having the energy to torture him again.

Kosoku was still talking aloud of this. “We had expected that it was merely a yokai form, as the brat was normally so dominated by his weak, human prerogative. Instead, we found that something much more...interesting had arisen.” 

He knew it had taken weeks, maybe months (time, after the event, was so difficult for him. At one point, he had ‘gone to sleep’ mid autumn, only to wake up and it was just barely spring) for her to get to that thought process. At first, she was obviously overjoyed at having a little yokai to ~~_corrupt_~~ nurture. And then, after it had been discovered that his identity had split and he, the puny human, still existed, she had been enraged. Only so much time later did she see this as a good thing.

“The yokai had no memories of where he was, whom he was, or what he was. He stayed like this until his next lesson, where his drastic change reversed itself, and he once again looked like the weak, human child we had stolen. He had no memories of the rest of the fight. No memories of the previous days.”

The ghost shrunk in on himself, hugging his sides, trying to breathe.

“What had transpired was insanity. Insanity and desperation had clawed its way within the mind of that child, and cleaved it in two.” She grinned. The muscles of **his** face stretched as Kosoku smiled, her eyes wide and glowing in the darkness of her cell. “That thing there, before you? It’s barely human, barely alive. It’s almost disgusting, how this could even happen. I’ve seen many things since I was created by the Hyaku Monogatari clan, and yet, this was new to me. An entire _identity_ , split between two consciousnesses and they’re so...different from each other.”

She went on and on, about how unnatural, even among yokai standards, he was. How insane he was, how _disgusting._ The room was shrinking on him as she laid bare his most inner thoughts, all to the people he held in the light, his solace, his safety, all these years. He felt like his chest was going to collapse in itself, terrified that if he looked up, either at Nura Rihan or even Tsurara, he would see the disgust in their eyes. They hadn’t asked for this. They wanted a young master back. They wanted _Nura Rikuo_ back. How was he ever to tell them _he was dead?_ That _Nura Rikuo_ hasn’t existed in _years._

His closest bet had been to tell them about **him.** At least **_he_ ** wasn’t _this_ messed up. At least **_he_ ** wasn’t so... _disgusting._

_I can’t breathe. It hurts. Hurts. Hakase, it hurts. Please, Hakase, I’ll be good, I’ll be a good boy. Please._

_You’ll be good?_

_I’ll be good! I promise, Hakase!_

_ And yet, you’re still so **disgusting**. So gross. What use do I have for you? _

_Hakase, please!_

Hakase’s voice carried on, drawing him from his mind. 

“Just look at him. Even in that yuki-onna’s body, you can see just how insane he is. How disgusting. He can’t even control his own body, allowing some blood-thirsty child to dominate him. Best part is, even **_he_ ** knows it. Sakura-chan thinks he’s just a hallucination and regularly debases him. It’s almost comical, how I've turned Sakura-chan against **himself** so easily. To **him** , that thing there is nothing more than a weak illusion. Isn’t that right?” Hakase said this, looking directly at him. Her glowing eyes burned him, making him quiver in her presence. He only had to wait. Just a little more time, and they would be back in the playroom, Hakase would teach him his next lesson. 

He felt tears run down his face, drops landing on his arms. Any second now and she would end this illusion. Returning to the Nura Clan? Being saved by fa-Rihan and the others? _Seeing_ this place again? 

It was a dream, that was the only explanation. It was an illusion Hakase had made to see how loyal he was. And he had failed. What would his punishment be? Another nailing to the playroom walls? Maybe she’d leash him to a pole outside, barren of any clothes or decency, to bestow his shame to the entire clan again. Or she’d come up with something newer and much worse? Only time would show her fury.

“I don’t think you can even claim that, as noble as you are, Nura Rihan, as ‘your son’. That thing is lesser than a yokai and even worse than a human. It’s unnatural. It’s _disgusting._ Did you know it can’t even control it’s own body? Sakura-chan is always in control of it, and that thing just haunts **him** . Honestly, it’s probably not something you can consider ‘Nura Rikuo’. I can understand though, wanting Sakura-chan back. At least **he** isn’t plagued by hallucinations and irrationalities.” Hakase finished with disdain. 

“No-no I-I’m not-” He couldn’t breathe. His lungs were too big to fill. There wasn’t enough air. 

_ I can’t breathe, I-I can’t breathe, Hakase, I can’t breathe, please, I’ll be good! I can be good! _

_ Y-Young Master! _

**** He jumped, looking to his side. He had apparently collapsed to the floor, kneeling and shivering, hyperventilating in front of everybody. But then Tsurara had reached out. Wait-she had called him-

“No! I-I’m not h-him! I’m jus-st a ghost! I’m n-not R-Rik-kuo-o…” He was stuttering like crazy, only making him seem even less believable than before.

“Rikuo...please…” Rihan was knelt at his side, with a concerned and scared expression. As soon as Rihan reached out a hand, he flinched, backing away a little bit. Just behind him, the ghost could see Kubinashi’s floating head, also scared and tense. The ghost stared at them, looking between the three people he had seen the last time he was here. The people he saw in his dreams, chained up and unable to save him from Hakase.

“No...no, no, breathe, just...breathe…” He whispered to himself, to calm down. Focus on the task. Focus on accomplishing the task. Accomplishing his task will have the best outcome, the sooner it’s done. Just how he was taught.

He couldn’t breathe though. The most simplest of actions and he couldn’t do it, god, how useless was he? He couldn’t even breathe? 

_ Deep breath in, in, breathe in, out, in, it’s not working, it isn’t working! I ca-an’t-t breathe...Hakase, I can’t breathe, please let me go, I’ll be good! I promise! _

_You’ll always be pitiful, Nura Rikuo._

Before he could so much as calm himself down, he saw black and felt weightless. He looked around, to find himself in the mindscape between vessels. There were no blue or red threads. He was alone. But he no longer had a body, he no longer needed to breathe. Surprisingly, the thought brought him peace. He was free from the weight of the tangible world again, even if he was stuck here. He looked around at the black emptiness, feeling numb. He felt like he could stay here forever, doing absolutely nothing, and yet he would feel no regret from it. 

As he thought about it, he tried to think about what was happening before he got here. Something about...what was it? Maybe a panic attack? They could get pretty bad sometimes, and this wasn’t the first time he had found himself here with little memory of what had just happened. 

He must have given himself too much of a shock to stay connected to the body, or Tsurara forced her way back in. The first was more likely, given what he knew of his own panic attacks.

The Nuras were probably wondering where he was, especially since Kosoku (by disconnecting from a physical medium, his panic attack going away, he was alleviated of calling Kosoku the ‘H’ word) had spilled... _that._ She had told them the truth. 

It was strange, this in-between state. He found that he could think of a myriad of things that would normally set him off, and yet he felt no repercussions. He was free. He could barely remember what things outside this place were like. What was warmth? What was...emotion? What was pain? The words had lost all meaning to him.

These things were numb and even though he knew their concepts, he still felt like he needed to look up the definition to actually understand them. He usually hated this, the inbetween state. And yet, for some reason, he can’t recall why. Nothing could hurt him here. He was safe from everything. It was warm and cold enough. He didn’t have whatever ‘hunger’ was. He could rest, though he never felt tired, as much as he wanted.

Still, he felt like there was something he needed to do. Something was nudging at him. He opened his eyes and found that he was still within the dungeon.

The attendants on the other side of the room all stood, apprehensive and concern spilling from their auras. Rihan knelt in front of Tsurara’s body, which was shrunk against the wall, arms wrapped around the torso. Her face was blotchy, fresh tears streaming down and her eyes wide. Her mouth hung open, and she was breathing raggedly, much better than the hyperventilating he remembered he had been experiencing.

“Rikuo, please, it’s okay, everything is going to be _okay_.” Rihan said to Tsurara, still believing him to be in her body.

Her head shook, ever so lightly. “Mas-ster, it’s me...Tsurara…” She raised her head, her breathing calmed, and began wiping her face, looking around the room, first at everyone else. Then, as she came back around, her eyes landed on him. Tsurara’s golden gaze widened, and she gasped lowly. 

He looked down at himself, realising that his hands and legs were fully formed. He brought his hands to his face, and felt that it was there, his hair was fully formed too. He looked...like himself.

“Y-young Master!” Tsurara said, leaning forward. 

He shook his head, making her pause. They didn't have the time for this.

He looked back to Kosoku, who was grimacing. She leaned at the back of the cell, one knee bent and resting her arm on it. The pupils of her eyes seemed to be shaking, like they were wavering to cover the red of the iris. Did...was it possible his panic attack somehow affected either his body or **him**? Was Kosoku fighting for control? Was she weakened?

There was one way to find out.

He closed his eyes, finding himself within that blackened mindscape again, and he sought out the red thread. He looked for any light, anything glowing, and just as he was beginning to doubt, he felt _warmth_. Like a summer's day after escaping captivity, like the heat of a hand from a greeting, or even a tattered blanket thrown away. It felt so familiar, even though he hasn’t known these things for years. It was like his body, his vessel, was calling for him. And how could he resist?

It was surprisingly easy for him to grasp the red string. It was hotter and felt like being burned from heated metal. He didn’t let go though, pulling through, forcing this thread to work for him, as it always should have. 

And then, he felt a draft. He shivered, reaching his arms around himself to rub some warmth into his skin as he opened his eyes. He saw Rihan, Tsurara, the other aides, through wooden bars. He was within the cell. 

He pushed Kosoku out and had never felt better.

* * *

Rihan stared at Rikuo’s body through the cell. At first, he was distracted, trying to talk to the ghost- _Rikuo, he didn’t understand it yet but the ghost had been his son too_ -when Tsurara told them she was back. For all of one second, as she wiped her face, she looked around at them all before looking surprised at a space by the wall, calling out ‘Young Master’.

Next thing he had known, Rikuo’s body was shrieking, Kosoku yelling profanities and about something getting out.

And then he was bewitched by the sight. 

The nurarihyon hair faded and shortened, appearing as two toned brown hair, instead of the previous black and white. His body became thin and shrank, forming an adolescent human body instead of an adult yokai’s.

Fear was leaking off him in a dark, cloudy mist, and it dragged to the other side of the cell where a humanoid shape was forming. In the next few seconds, the body became whole and looked like Kosoku, who appeared to be knocked unconscious.

Looking back to Rikuo, he found a very human face. Big brown eyes opened and looked at him. They looked similar to Wakana’s, but had almost a dark reddish tint he could just barely make out. His sclera were now white, and he looked dazed, his eyes looking between all of the yokai in the room, not stopping on any one of them. Rikuo’s arms were wrapped around him, and Rihan could see goosebumps on his skin.

“R-Rikuo?” He began, hesitant. Rikuo stopped looking around and stared at him. A hopeful, surprised expression pulled at Rihan’s face. “Rikuo, is that you?” He asked.

Rikuo opened his mouth as if to reply, but stopped. He glanced at the floor before looking back at Rihan, nodding. He turned his face away, looking anywhere but in Rihan’s direction. His eyes narrowed, his mouth pulled taut. He looked nervous, or even in pain.

“Ri-” 

“Can we, um, can we not do this yet? We need to take care of Kosoku.” Rikuo said, standing up. He grimaced, and looked shaky on his feet, his left hand braceing himself on the wall. His eyes glanced at Kosoku, and he seemed to take a step back, before looking around and realising that he was in a cell with her.

As his son’s face took on a hint of fear, Rihan immediately went to open the cell door. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to run in and hug Rikuo, but all he could think of was his son within Tsurara’s body, skittering away from him, tears running from his face. He decided it might be too soon for close contact.

Rikuo then looked up at him (God, he’s so much shorter in this form), and then he came forward, stepping out of the cell with bare, human feet. The cell was shut and locked immediately, given Kosoku’s presence. At least their objective was complete, Kosoku no longer possessed Rikuo’s body.

Speaking of Rikuo, Rihan was barely holding himself back. His son, _his son_ , was _alive_ and _here_. Rikuo was as okay as he could be. Of course Rihan hadn’t forgot a single thing Kosoku had been spouting, and with the quality of context, he wasnt sure if it was worse torture for him or Rikuo. 

Hearing what his own child had gone through, Rihan could barely stomach thinking about everything. And he wanted to beg for Rikuo’s forgiveness. His son had to have realised so much sooner who’s fault it was that he was in that situation. Rihan could only hope that Rikuo would let him apologize.

“I…” Rikuo started, staring at the ground. He tapped his feet (and this drew Rihan’s attention to the scars on his ankles and legs, at least what he could see. There were-suspiciously-almost perfect circles at the center of each foot, about the size of a bottle cap, reddish pink against his pale skin, sunken in from what he could tell. He was scared to think what they were from.), obviously nervous. “Can we leave this room? Please?” He asked in such a small, scratchy voice, Rihan could barely stomach the hoarseness of it, how it could have been caused. 

“Of course,” he started, walking towards the door, glancing at everyone else. His aides were in varying shades of nervousness and surprise. They looked to him, hesitant on their next steps. “Ao, go let Karasu Tengu know that Kosoku has been detained and separated from Rikuo. Kejoro, retrieve my father and Wakana. Kuro, stay here and guard her.” 

This left Rihan, Rikuo, Kubinashi, and Tsurara to go back to the meeting room first. As they made their way in tense silence, it was obvious that the mansion was alight with anxiety and awe. Little yokai watched from the ceiling and around corners, everyone trying to get a look at the returned young master. Even Rihan. Kubinashi and Tsurara fell at fault for this, sneakily (or, obviously, to Rikuo) taking glances at him.

Rikuo couldn’t blame them. He knew what they saw. Unlike **him** , scars didn’t fade or disappear from his body. In fact, on multiple occasions, he’s found scars from wounds he only remembers **him** getting. It was odd, given that **he** controlled the body almost a 100% of the time. You’d think **he’d** retain **his** own scars.

This was sadly not the case. And so, every scar, blemish, or mark was on display to these people. He felt self conscious, though his kimono and haori covered most of it. But the marks upon his uncovered skin, like his hands, ankles, neck; all of these were seeing the light of day, much to Rikuo’s chagrin.

What was worse, was that he had no idea what to say. What he-they-should do. What _were_ they doing now? Was Kosoku just an eternal prisoner now? Was he...what was he? Would he be treated like the long lost child he technically was, or as an enemy they needed to defend against?

Honestly, if they decided he couldn’t be trusted, he wouldn’t hold it against them. He could hardly trust himself, and with how much he had been with-holding before and during Kosoku’s interrogation, it had to be a given. Rikuo grew even more tense as they walked down the hallway, quiet, save for the whispers of the yokai in the mansion.

He could hear them, whispers from the watching inhabitants. They spoke to each other in quiet voices, expressing what they thought of him. They spoke about how human he looked, how timid (and this was a negative thing, for yokai) he looked. He shrunk down, head staring at the floor as they walked, just barely watching those in front of him to avoid walking into anybody or anything. 

When they came to the room before, he looked up at the sound of gasps. Waiting by the door was Nurarihyon and Wakana. 

_Mother_

His chest hurt, he felt his eyes watering. He wondered what it’d feel like, to hug her, to hold her hand. Was she warm, like most humans? Or maybe she was shaking because she was actually cold? He pondered these things for a minute or so until he realized that he had been staring.

He looked back to the floor, abashed and face warm. Before he could verbalize an apology or a greeting, there were arms enveloping him.

“ _Rikuo._ ” It was Wakana. She couldn’t help herself, and had hugged him immediately. He wasn’t sure what to focus on. The warmth and feeling of his long-missed mother _-_ his _mother_ \- holding him like the child he felt he was, or the thought that she could see, probably feel, the scars along his skin. The polite thing to do was pull back, right? Nobody would want to have to see or feel such gross scars, much less a familial person. Rikuo shouldn’t be burdening them by showing off all the signs of his abuse, right? 

And yet, the whole world could have blown up right then and he wouldn’t have been able to let go. He felt his throat sting and tears gathered in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around her back, placing them just under her shoulder blades. Was he doing this right? He couldn’t really remember what a hug should feel like. As his inhales began to hurt, he burrowed his head into her shoulder, trying to preserve some semblance of face. 

“Oh, my Rikuo, how I’ve _missed_ you. I can’t believe I’m seeing you, after all this time. _Oh god, Rikuo_ !” Wakana held him tighter, and he almost thought he’d start to suffocate, given his claustrophobia. But that didn’t happen. It was so _warm_ , so _soothing_. Honestly, he was starting to feel sleepy, like he’d never felt before. 

Usually, when he was tired enough and needed sleep, he was too scared to obey his bodily needs until he’d pass out. 

Maybe it was just that, that he was too tired and it was time, or maybe he felt so sure, in his subconscious, that he’d be okay. He found his eyes heavy to lift, and his sobs were quieting, until he felt himself going lax in his mother’s hold.

* * *

Rihan hadn’t expected it, he would have been surprised if anyone else had either. One minute, Wakana and Rikuo are holding each other tightly, sobbing; And in the next second, Rikuo is slipping from Wakana’s hold as she wasn’t able to hold up his body weight. 

Kubinashi had been closest, stepping forward in a flash and grabbing Rikuo before he crumpled to the floor.

“What just...what just happened?” 

“I think he...fell asleep?” Kubinashi replied, unsure. His head rounded Rikuo while his body continued to cradle him. “Master, I think he truly...fell asleep.” His tone was astonished, and he looked curious as he glanced between Rikuo and Rihan.

“Well...if he’s fallen asleep, I suppose he’s just worn out from everything that’s happened...it’s been a busy day, after all.” He smiled to himself, thinking back to this morning and how he had never expected today to go as it did. “Let’s take him to one of the guest rooms and let him rest. We can discuss amongst ourselves until he wakes.”

“It might actually allow all of us to calm down so we don’t overwhelm him by accident.” Kejoro commented as she turned back to Rihan. “Master, I go on ahead and prepare a room and futon, I’ll meet you in side-room three.” She stepped back, bowed, and walked away, presumably to do as she said.

Rihan looked to the others, glancing down at Kubinashi, about to say something, when he noticed Wakana. She had such a serene smile on her face, as she gently stroked her finger along Rikuo’s features. She traced his cheek, one of his eyes, before gently gliding across his temple in a soothing pseudo-petting motion. 

Rihan couldn’t wait to meet his son, to learn more about him.

“Pops, if you’d like, you can go back to whatever dumbassary you were doing and I’ll send Karasu Tengu to get you when he wakes.” Rihan suggested to Nurarihyon.

The short yokai had settled his chin into his hand as if in thought when Rihan said this, and immediately, his eyes shot open, in a faux-glare, saying, “You good-for-nothing! What makes you think I’d rather go mess with humans- _i mean_ , ehmm, do important tasks, than wait for my grandson to wake?! What is wrong with you?!” The little man glared at his son, swatting at his arms and torso given his inability to reach Rihan’s face.

“Okay, okay, i’m sorry, _I’m sorry-stop hitting me!_ Come on, let’s all go to the bedroom Kejoro picked. Kubinashi, if I could trouble you, would you mind carrying Rikuo there? Can you lift him?”

“Of course, Master.” Kubinashi stood up, cradling Rikuo in his arms in a classic princess carry. 

“Ao, go let Kuro know where we’ll be should something happen.”

“Yes, Master.” 

The group, consisting of Rihan, Wakana, Nurarihyon, Tsurara, Kubinashi, and Rikuo (still being carried), left for the guest room, finding Kejoro kneeling next to a laid out futon, preparing a pot of tea as she waited for everyone to join her.

Rikuo was carefully set within the futon, and as Kubinashi moved to lean away from him, he realised that Rikuo’s right hand was gripped on his lapel. Not tightly, just enough that it was caught, and when the other’s noticed, everyone chuckled at the befuddled aide. 

After dislodging him from Kubinashi, Rikuo was laid out in a proper sleeping position and the blanket was spread atop him. His hands were resting on his chest, and as Kubinashi placed them down, the atmosphere grew tense.

This was because of Rikuo’s hands. No one had truly noticed, aside from Tsurara from before she knew it was _Rikuo_ , and she only just now remembered. To describe them, his hands were small, slender, not quite matching his age, perhaps an adolescent who had yet to hit a growth spurt or, for a darker thought, a malnourished child. His nails were short and haphazardly shaped, not quite chewed, but more like they’d been broken several times and there was dried blood on a few of them. 

These weren’t the most obvious characteristics though.

Across his hands, in criss-crossing patterns with no rhyme or reason, were red-white lines. His skin was fair, fitting a person born in their region but surpassing that as a person who hadn’t seen the sunlight much. The scars stood out, some a bright red color, scabbed over and others a faded light pink or white. 

Rihan couldn’t bear to look any longer.

“What happens now?” Tsurara said suddenly. 

Rihan looked to her where she sat by Rikuo’s right side. She was still looking at Rikuo, but her gaze wasn’t stuck on his hands, her eyes were roaming his face and body, as if taking in his appearance for the first time.

“Well, we finally have Rikuo back, and we’re going to do all we can to support and help him.”

“We’ll have to be careful, Master.” Tsurara looked at him, her tone gentle but dejected. “He...he’s hurt. A lot. There’s no way to know what might trigger him. We...I could, um...look up how to deal with PTSD victims? And panic attacks?”

Rihan loved Tsurara so much. She was so sweet and considerate, and as she said these things about caring for Rikuo, Rihan realised something.

“Tsurara, would you mind...taking over as Rikuo’s aide again?” Rihan asked.

Tsurara’s face was so pure and innocent, she couldn’t hide her emotions. Her eyes watered and her mouth was tightly pulled together like she was resisting a sob. “That’s-Master I...you don’t have to humor me, I...I know that it’d be better to assess everyone on who would be best as Young Master Rikuo’s aide. You don’t need to pick me just because I was previously. You don’t need to-”

“What are you saying?” Rihan asked, confused. Humor her? What did she mean? “Tsurara, why wouldn’t I choose you? You’ve already voluntarily offered to look into how to care for a PTSD victim, you’ve shone both in the past before Rikuo was kidnapped that you got along well and present time over the last couple of hours, and I trust you. Where could you possibly have gotten the idea that you weren’t adequate for this?” He finished incredulously.

“Master, i...I always thought...that I was in the way, once Younger Master Rikuo was gone, there wasn’t exactly...a role for me. I’m sorry, I’ve placed for with on myself than I-”

“Stop it right there!” RIhan shouted, reaching over and grasping Tsurara’s hands. “I _just said_ that you were my first choice and that I value you as you are, why are you still saying that you have no worth?!” Rihan let go, sitting back and running a hand through his hair, realising his past mistake. “ _I’m_ sorry, Tsurara, I failed you. I never meant for you to interpret your position like that. I had been under the belief, after you refused to become one of _my_ aides, that you weren’t interested, that maybe...after what happened to Rikuo, you preferred to not be in the heat of things.”

Tsurara was speechless. She said nothing as frozen tears began falling from her eyes, little pieces falling to the blanket over Rikuo and melting on contact. Rihan was worried he had said something wrong, before Tsurara mumbled a _‘thank you’_ and smiled sadly, wiping her face.

Rihan, without any more hesitation, stood and walked to the other side of Rikuo. He kneeled down next to Tsurara, and drew her into a _long_ overdue hug. They passed a few minutes of this, the sounds of Tsurara’s hiccuping drawing to a close after a little bit. She didn’t pull back, and Rihan didn’t ask her to. He held her, and swore to himself he would take care of her like he had once promised to Setsuna.

The next topic came up from Kejoro, asking about Kosoku’s state for the time being. Tsurara had sat up, no longer resting her head on Rihan’s shoulder, but allowed Rihan to keep his arm wrapped around her as she relaxed in a more comfortable position. 

Rihan honestly wasn’t sure what they could do with Kosoku. She was a liability, and if Rikuo’s...other half? If the ‘other Rikuo’ still held loyalty to her, then it was already a priority that they be kept apart. Rihan had no wish to let Kosoku see his son ever again. 

He could tell, with hindsight now, that having Rikuo speak to and even _exist_ in the presence of that monster had been a terrible regret. They-Rihan-would be lucky if Rikuo could understand that some of the things they did (before the identity reveal) were regretful actions. Hell, had Rihan known that this ‘mysterious ghost’ was someone with ptsd and risk of panic attacks and other things in Kosoku’s presence, he probably would have said no to the assistance in the first place!

This mattered little, right now. The day had waned, and dusk was coming to a close by the time they decided to just keep Kosoku locked up with a 24-hour guard. Rihan pitied the yokai that’d get stuck on the grave shifts.

Given the...emotional day, the kitchen staff had gone ahead without Kejoro’s, Wakana’s or even Tsurara’s help on dinner. When the discussion had become quiet, it seemed the eavesdropping yokai (because in a mansion of yokai, there was truly never any privacy) had signaled for food to be served. 

Deeming Rikuo to be out for a while longer, the group left the room with the exception of some of the smaller yokai, such as Natto Kozo and his group. Rihan had thought someone should stay with Rikuo, either to make sure he didn’t wake up alone or just to guard him (can’t be too careful) when Natto had outright called heresy at any of them missing dinner. _“It’s been a loooong day,”_ he’d said. _“You’ll feel better with food in your belly!”_ he’d said. _“I’ll watch our Young Master!”_ Rihan had trusted.

Later, he would regret this, as it turned out there was someone else listening to their discussion.

Everything had been fine.

Dinner was a home cooked house favorite, comfort food if there was any, and the house was alight with joy at the return of Young Master Rikuo. There was merry drinking, beloved food, uplifting and soothing chatter. Everything was both the same as usual and dazzlingly new.

Until a loud noise like snapping wood and screaming came from the guest room hallway. Rihan’s heart stuttered immediately, his thoughts jumping to the worst of conclusions. That somehow Kosoku had escaped confinement and came after Rikuo.

The house was all of a sudden in an uproar, this time in fear and confusion rather than joy and celebration. Rihan and the aides left to see the damage, to save Rikuo as needed, when they ran into Natto Kozo and the others. Natto’s...ehm _natto_ was pulled and stuck out at odd angles and there was blood on one of the yokai behind him. Another was crying and shaking. 

“Natto! What happened? Is it Kosoku?” Rihan asked without a pause.

Before Natto could say anything though, Rihan got worried and decided _fuck it_ and moved to run down the hall. Asking questions right now was like asking Kosoku to successfully escape with his son and he wasn’t about to let that happen. However, just as he tried to leave, Natto, still shaken, grasped the end of his kimono, shouting a “ _Master, wait!”_

“What is it?”

“It’s not *cough* it isn’t Kosoku…” He let go of Rihan, daring to look him in the eye as if ashamed. “It’s the Young Master himself.”

Rihan blinked, and it took him a minute to understand what could of happened if it was just Rikuo waking up. Rikuo could have been disoriented upon stirring, yes, but there was no way he, a human, would be able to cause what sounded like so much destruction. He wasn’t a yokai after a-

Then, like a weight dropping from the sky, Rihan knew what had happened. It wasn’t Rikuo they were dealing with now.

It was the psychotic yokai persona.

If he was honest, Rihan wasn’t too sure he could wrap his head around his son being two people. He had read once, in a human book that seemed interesting at the time, about a disorder where the mind splits in two (or more) and a ‘person’ will have multiple ‘personalities’. He wasn’t sure how that could work all the way down to a biological point, his son’s literal DNA, chromosomal appearance, and abilities changing so drastically, but it’s not like he went to school so what could he know?

What he did know was that they needed to get to Rikuo _now_.

When the group arrived they found a gaping hole inside the room leading outside. The screen-covered windows had been torn and the splintering wood noise must have been from the frames of the windows and the poles on the deck outside. The futon had been thrown around, like someone hastily getting out of bed. 

They stepped through the hole to find Kappa in a standoff with Rikuo. There was a water dome around Rikuo as he knelt to the ground, his body heaving as if out of breath. There was a smile on his face with a taunting expression. 

“Just a little water demon, if i wasn’t so worn out, do you think this could hold me?” Rikuo said to Kappa, not the least bit concerned at the new additions.

“It doesn’t even matter if you'd normally be able to get out of this, you’re confined now.” Kappa shot back.

“Kappa! What’s going on?” Rihan approached the water yokai, asking.

“Master, I was napping in the pond when I found him escaping.” Kappa’s monotone voice came out a little slow, like he was trying to concentrate on keeping the dome up while explaining the situation to Rihan. “I wasn’t sure if the Young Master was allowed out so I thought I’d wait til you got here.”

“Until further notice, he’s not. Thanks Kappa.” 

Kappa nodded silently. Rikuo from within the dome looked to be...pouting? Why would he be _pouting_ of all things?

“How mean, ignoring me and excluding me from this conversation. Oh great _Master Rihan,_ won’t you give me some face, too?” Rikuo mocked before he could ask.

_ I see. No doubt about it...he was raised by Kosoku...  _

“...Rikuo, please, you don’t have to worry about Kosoku anymore. You’re safe-”

“Excuse me?” Rikuo sat up, looking affronted. His nurarihyon hair seemed to shift behind him, like a cat bristling. “Kosoku is the only one I could be safe with, are you insane?” He asked Rihan, as if this was an obvious concept.

“Rikuo, i don’t have time to tell you just how stupid that statement is.” Rihan said, feeling Tired™. He’s been a father for a _day_ , y’all, how was he supposed to explain this? “Just...how ‘bout you go to sleep, and we can talk another time? Sound good? Great, off you go, sleepy sleep. Shoo shoo.” 

Rikuo had the expression of an affronted five-year-old, a key character trait of an adolescent that had yet to realize that _sleep_ was the greatest activity in the world. He stood to his full height, and came to the edge of Kappa’s barrier.

“As soon as i get out of this, I’m going to tear out your throat.” He replied, pointing to Rihan.

“That’s a little strong, don’t you think? Maybe start with a light strangulation? Or even just not doing anything, that’d be much appreciated.” Rihan said. He probably shouldn’t be making these kinds of jokes to his homicidal son, but can you blame him?

Rikuo was going to say something else, when a large presence came from behind him and grabbed him, lifting him in the air. Aotabo had approached as quietly as possible from the other side of the barrier and snuck up on him. Rikuo was taken completely off guard, now squirming like a child. 

Hold on...holy shit, he _was_ a child! If Kosoku’s story could be trusted, this yokai personality had come up after Rikuo was eight years old! This _yokai_ was _barely five_! 

_ I’m just going to leave that thought there, I’m not in the mood for this crisis.  _

“Put me down, now! I swear-” 

“Or else what?” Aotabo said. 

“I’m gonna...” Rikuo looked horribly pissed, until he suddenly got very quiet.

A second passed when Aotabo suddenly jerked, worrying that he’d been holding too tight and made Rikuo pass out. Kappa released the dome and Rihan rushed forward to see what was going on. In Aotabo’s arms was still the yokai appearance of Rikuo, but he was out cold. Rihan thought back to when they first came out, Rikuo had said he wasn’t at full strength. Maybe being connected to Kosoku for so long had drained him and he’d only woken temporarily?

“*sigh* put him in a different room, we’ll have to keep a better eye on him. We need to have someone watch him 24/7 like Kosoku, I don’t think we can just assume that he’s on our side now that he’s separated from Kosoku. Hasn’t even been a day, and this is gonna take a lot more than a couple of hours to figure out.” Rihan said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Aotabo looked unsure. “Master...should we be treating the Young Master like this? It’s not as if he’s-” 

“An enemy?” Rihan finished, turning to him. “Rikuo...the human persona of Rikuo who helped us with Kosoku is likely not our enemy, but this yokai? He’s an enigma. We’ve barely had a conversation with him and he is wholly on the side of the Hyaku Monogatari clan, most definitely Kosoku’s. It was...a mistake to think that the problems both Kosoku and Rikuo himself mentioned would just disappear.”

“Problems?” Kejoro asked for clarification. 

Rihan gestured to Rikuo, sighing. “Rikuo himself said that the yokai was most often in control of the body. I completely forgot after...well, after I...had my son back…” 

Tsurara, who had been standing on the sidelines very quietly, came over crouched by him. She patted her hand on his shoulder, giving him a sad smile.

“All that matters is that we have him back. We’ll help him recover.” She said wistfully.

“Yeah. He’ll be okay.” Rihan said, standing. 

He looked around him, at his closest aides and his family. His eyes fell on Wakana, where she kneeled next to Rikuo, stroking his hair lightly. Their eyes met and she smiled back.

“We’ll be okay.” She said with a tone of finality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're here!
> 
> Sorry, I'm sure some if not most of you guys expected a happy ending where Rikuo is okay and idk Kosoku is dead and whatever else. I think this is a realistic ending, and that it fits better into the mold, though you could say that, since Rikuo has been separated from his abuser, it is a _happier_ ending.
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this and it's actually my first time using skin so I hope it wasn't confusing. There were a few things i wanted to add, but they didn't fit anywhere so i guess i can just tell u now:
> 
> \- Kosoku is, in my head-canon, a yokai created by Kyosai, the dude who debuted in chapter 144 that paints yokai's into existence. Kosoku is a personification of the word 'restraint' (拘束) and was created for the express purpose of capturing Rikuo and subduing Rihan.
> 
> \- I may have mentioned it already, and if I did sorry, but 'Hakase', the term Night uses and Day sometimes falls into using, is just like sensei but like...instead of a high school teacher, more of a professional level like professor or even a doctor.
> 
> \- I totally ended up writing Rihan with kind of a millennial/gen z coding, I apologize but I thought it was fun.
> 
> \- Night Rikuo is legit 8 years younger than Day, you ever thought about that? I didn't until this chapter but I think it's fucking hilarious. I know Night is like the favorite character of everyone in the fandom (by the polls, that's what I'm going off, don't hurt me) but I always find myself wondering why Day doesn't get as much love as he deserves. This was a story that spawned from that idea, and so the villain, aside from Kosoku, is def Night. And you guys gotta be nice to him, he's just a baby! He's a five year old that's been groomed to hurt things. He'll be okay, I promise!
> 
> \- The colors for the skinning aren't very symbolic; Green for Rihan because he's always seen in the green Kimono, Blue for Tsurara cuz...ice?, Red for Day because he's usually seen in the nice red hoari, Dark Red for Night because the same for Day but he's evil, and Surprise Surprise, Kosoku's color, white, actually does have some symbolism. Not only does she wear completely white (because she's technically made from a blank canvas and she also sees herself as pure and better than others) but also the fact that if you don't highlight her skinned dialogue, it's unseen and Rikuo looks psychotic (or more so) without her. She triggers him and yet if you don't see that, you'll inevitably put all the blame on Rikuo being 'unusual'. Just a layer on the whole thing I guess.
> 
> \- omg I keep realizing I forgot to add something. If you'll notice in the last section with Night, he responds to the name Rikuo - this is because he knows his name is Rikuo, it's just that Kosoku is his primary caretaker, and always calls him 'Sakura-chan' (this is to mock him, obviously) So it's not like the case of Day where he won't accept that 'Rikuo' is his name. 
> 
> \- Fuck, this is my third note I've added just today, I'm sorry. I wanted to make a note that Kosoku uses '-chan' to mock people. Originally I was going to keep everything in Japanese with '-sama' and '-san' and such, but I decided it would show the teasing by Kosoku better if she were the only one using it. I also may or may not have gotten a little confused halfway through on how everyone should be referred to and gave up.
> 
> Alright, now that that's taken care of, THANK YOU GUYS, THIS WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN, I HOPE IT WAS TO YOUR LIKING ;)


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